Brannen Repeats as NCAA Indoor 800 Meters Champion

Saturday, March 13

Fayetteville, Ark.

Michigan

NCAA Indoor Championships (Day 2)

3/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Junior Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) of the University of Michigan men's track and field team notched a school-record 1:47.61 to win his second consecutive NCAA indoor 800-meter run title at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday (March 13). With sophomore Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) also collecting points with a runner-up finish in the 3,000-meter run, Michigan boasted its second highest indoor finish in program history, taking fifth place with 28 points. Louisiana State won the team title with 44.5 points.

Brannen is the sixth person to claim back-to-back NCAA indoor titles in the 800.

With back-to-back victories in the indoor 800-meter run, Brannen became the fifth Wolverine to successfully defend an NCAA title, and the first to accomplish it during the indoor season. Brannen also became just the fifth Wolverine to earn three NCAA titles since the inception of the NCAA outdoor meet in 1921.

Starting in the first position in the outside box, Brannen kept pace with the outer pack and stayed on the heels of Kansas State's Christian Smith as the two cut down in front of the field coming out of the fourth turn. The Wolverine held the second spot at the 200-meter mark of the race, clocking an opening split of 25.2, and maintained his position near the front throughout the entire second lap.

Entering the final 400 meters, Kent State's Mike Inge took off down the stretch to gain four positions from the middle of the pack and take the lead at the halfway point of the race. Brannen held his ground, dropping back into the third position but hanging close to the front, clocking a 1:20.30 split through the 600-meter mark, just steps out of the lead. Inge continued to pace the field through the third lap with Brannen narrowly trailing in the third position. Coming out of the second turn, with just 150 meters remaining in the race, Brannen cut to the ouside and accelerated past the leaders. No one was able to challenge the Wolverine junior, and he kicked to a commanding lead, finishing 0.57 seconds ahead of runner-up Smith to claim the NCAA crown.

In Michigan's other competition of the day, and perhaps the most exciting and anticipated race of the weekend, Willis went head to head with Arkansas' six-time NCAA champion Alistair Cragg in the 3,000-meter run, falling just short to the Razorback to claim second place in the event with a time of 7:56.44.

The race started steady and slow through the first 800 meters with Willis sitting in the second position behind Stanford's Donald Sage. Coming out of the second turn of the fifth lap, Cragg took off from the fourth position with Willis and Sage right on his heels. The three runners moved out ahead of the pack, but as Cragg continued to accelerate into every back stretch, only Willis was able to maintain the pace and the pair was left all alone out front with 1,200 meters remaining. Willis and Cragg added to their commanding lead and widened the distance between themselves and the rest of the field with every lap, holding a 100-meter advantage over the third position for the last 600 meters.

Entering the final lap, Willis did not quite have enough left to challenge for the lead, and the two runners went stride for stride around the track until the last 50 meters when Cragg opened a small gap, crossing the line 1.15 seconds ahead of the Wolverine. Wisconsin's Matt Tegenkamp took third place in the event, finishing more than six seconds behind Willis with a time of 8:02.82.

The Wolverines will kick off the outdoor season Thursday through Saturday (March 18-20) at the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. Competition is slated to begin each day at 9 a.m. at the Mike Long Track.

Final Team Standings (Top 10)

 1. Louisiana State 44.50 2. Florida 38 Arkansas 38 4. Texas 31 5. MICHIGAN 28 6. Purdue 25 Baylor 25 8. Texas Christian 24 9. Ohio State 20 10. Wisconsin 19 Brigham Young 19

Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day 2)

800-meter Run 1. Nate Brannen, U-M 1:47.61 2. Christian Smith, Kansas State 1:48.18 3. Moise Joseph, Florida 1:48.24 4. Jackson Langat, Texas Christian 1:48.37 5. Peter Etoot, Alabama 1:48.65 6. Dmitrijis Milkevics, Nebraska 1:48.97 7. Mike Inge, Kent State 1:49.12 -- Sherridan Kirk, Auburn FS 3,000-meter Run (Top 10) 1. Alistair Cragg, Arkansas 7:55.29 2. Nick Willis, U-M 7:56.44 3. Matt Tegenkamp, Wisconsin 8:02.82 4. Robert Cheseret, Arizona 8:04.28 5. Ian Dobson, Wisconsin 8:04.49 6. Chris Solinksy, Wisconsin 8:04.70 7. Bret Schoolmester, Colorado 8:04.84 8. Simon Bairu, Wisconsin 8:06.80 9. Forest Braden, Boise State 8:06.83 10. Danny Wolf, Washington State 8:13.80

Day 1 Results

Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423