Brannen Qualifies for NCAA 800-Meter Run Final

Wednesday, May 29

Baton Rouge, La.

Michigan

NCAA Outdoor Championships (Day 1)

5/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

BATON ROUGE, La. -- University of Michigan freshman Nathan Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) ran the second fastest time ever by a Wolverine in the 800-meter run on Wednesday evening at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium en route to qualifying for Friday's final at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. With a time of 1:47.00, Brannen finished second in the first preliminary heat and, as one of the top two finishers in the three heats, automatically qualified for the final on Friday (May 31) at 8 p.m. CDT.

Brannen

Brannen's time of 1:47.00 earns him a spot in the Michigan record book behind only Trinity Townsend, who ran a time of 1:46.02 in 1996. Kevin Sullivan, a four-time NCAA champion, now sits in third place on the list with a time of 1:47.06 from 1995.

After making an appearance at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships (March 8-9) in Fayetteville, Ark., Brannen learned from his mistake at that meet and used it to his advantage on Wednesday night. At the indoor meet, Brannen got trapped by running on the inside of the turns and failed to qualify for the final of the mile by one spot after posting a time of 4:03.53. On Friday, Brannen stayed in the middle of the pack and then made his move to the outside on the next-to-last turn. Keeping to the outside, Brannen maintained his momentum and passed three runners before cruising to the finish line in second place.

Michigan will have two representatives competing on Thursday (May 30). Senior tri-captain Mike Wisniewski (Temperance, Mich./Bedford HS) will compete in the final of the 10,000-meter run and freshman Alan Webb (Reston, Va./South Lakes HS) will run in the preliminaries of the 1,500-meter run. The top four competitors from each heat in the 1,500-meter run, plus the next four fastest times, will qualify for Saturday's final that will be held at 8 p.m. CDT.

Wisniewski and Webb both automatically qualified for their events and have earned times that rank among the top 14 in the nation. Webb, with a time of 3:41.46, owns the seventh fastest time in the nation in the 1,500-meter run, while Wisniewski's mark of 28:55.89 stands as the 14th fastest time in the 10,000-meter run this season.

Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day 1)

800-meter Run (Preliminaries, Final Qualifiers Listed) Heat 1 1. Otukile Lekote, South Carolina 1:46.49Q 2. Nathan Brannen, U-M 1:47.00Q 3. Joseph Lee, Kansas State 1:47.92q 4. Dan Murray, Wisconsin 1:47.95q Heat 2 1. Jonathan Johnson, Texas Tech 1:46.55Q 2. Sam Burley, Pennsylvania 1:46.88Q 3. Marc Sylvester, Tennessee 1:47.16q Heat 3 1. Roman Oravec, SMU 1:48.35Q 6. Moise Joseph, Florida 1:48.48Q

Q U O T E S

U-M Head Coach Ron Warhurst
On Nathan Brannen's race ... "Nathan is a big-race guy, and the bigger the race, the better he does. He ran a very smart race and he ran it the way we discussed it. We talked about not staying on the curve and not getting trapped, which he did at the NCAA indoor meet. He learned his lesson and when he got outside he kept his momentum and stayed outside and just kept on going."

Contact: David Crabtree (734) 763-4423