Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
Although Petra (Johnson) Williams attended Linfield for only two years, the 2018 Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame inductee made an indelible mark on the college’s track and field program.
A native of Silverton, she attended Clackamas Community College for two years before transferring to Linfield. Her best track and field season came in 1985, when she became the college’s first female All-American in a running event. She went on to earn NAIA All-America honors that spring for her fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles at the NAIA Championships.
On the track, Williams was nearly unbeatable. She set school records in eight different events, six individually and two more as part of relay teams. She secured conference and district titles in the 100, 200, 400, 100 hurdles, 400 hurdles, and heptathlon, as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Williams was a key contributor to Linfield’s third-place team finish at the 1985 Northwest Conference championships and helped lift the Wildcats to second place the following year.
When Williams arrived at Linfield in the fall of 1984, there were only nine female track and field participants, most of them distance runners.
“Petra helped to identify and recruit athletes already on campus,” said Linfield’s first-year coach at the time, Rudy Pearson. “At the Northwest Conference meet, Linfield’s women scored more points in the sprints, hurdles, and jumps than the previous four years combined.”
Much of the Wildcats’ team success was due to Williams’ scoring production in five events.
“At the NAIA District 2 meet, we focused more on individual events. Petra won the 400 hurdles, the event she qualified for to the NAIA Nationals. Because of that first year, recruiting was more successful and Linfield women became quite competitive through the 1980s.”
Williams’ sheer competitiveness rubbed off on her teammates, helping elevate the entire women’s track and field program.
“Petra did not like to lose,” said Pearson, who found it difficult at times to prevent his star from over-training. “She initially became a heptathlete as a way to stoke her competitive juices. That rubbed off on our younger athletes, and allowed her to overcome a rather painful senior season of injury.”
More than 30 years after her graduation, Williams remains listed on Linfield’s top-10 lists in seven events. She ranks second all-time in the 100 and 400 hurdles, fourth in the 400, sixth in the 200, 400 and 4x400 relay, and is eighth all-time in the long jump.
Since graduating in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Williams has enjoyed living in Anchorage, Alaska. Today, she is an office manager for a small medical clinic and has worked in the medical field for both the local hospital and private doctors for 30 years.
She continues to compete on the track on weekends, participating in fun runs and all-comers meets. To no one’s surprise, she set local records in the 100, 200, 400 and hurdle races. To challenge herself even more, she has twice run the Mount Marathon race, known as “the toughest 5K on the planet.”
Petra is a proud mother of two grown children. Her son, Carlton (23), is a welder. Daughter Jaclyn (22) is studying to become an occupational therapist. She enjoys a multitude of outdoor activities, including hunting, fishing, boating, camping, climbing, cross-country skiing and bicycling.
