Brannen, Willis Set Sights on Professional Careers
6/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) and junior Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS), both members of the University of Michigan men's cross country and track and field teams, will bypass their remaining athletic eligibilty and sign professional running contracts this week. Both Wolverines will remain in Ann Arbor to finish their undergraduate degrees and train under U-M head coach Ron Warhurst.
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Highlighting his U-M career, Brannen captured back-to-back NCAA indoor titles in the 800-meter run (2003, '04) to become just the sixth runner to claim consecutive indoor titles in the event. He earned another pair of national titles as an integral member of the Wolverines' distance medley relay team, including a leadoff role in Michigan's world record-breaking performance at the 2004 NCAA meet. An 800-meter specialist through most of his career, Brannen owns the school in the event for both the indoor (1:47.51) and outdoor (1:46.00) seasons, and in his senior indoor campaign, he blazed the second-fastest mile time (3:55.11) in collegiate history -- missing the record by just 0.11 seconds -- to claim the U-M school mark.
With four total NCAA titles, Brannen ties former U-M standout Kevin Sullivan (1994-98) for the most national crowns in program history. In the fall season, Brannen garnered three All-America citations in cross country, earning back-to-back 17th-place finishes in his final two NCAA Championships appearances (2003, '04). He is one of only four three-time cross country All-Americans at Michigan; Sullivan stands as Michigan's only four-time All-American.
As a freshman, Willis swept the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year honors for the indoor and outdoor seasons, and the following year, he claimed both the indoor Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championships honors after wins in the mile and 3,000-meter run at the conference meet. A eight-time All-American over three years at Michigan, Willis captured his first national individual title at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships, kicking away from the elite competition to win the mile event.
Much of Willis' excellence and success at Michigan came in relay events. He anchored the Wolverines' 2004 NCAA-champion and record-breaking distance medley relay team and was twice named the "Male Athlete of the Relays" at the prestigious Penn Relays after setting the meet's 1,200-meter opening split record (2:48.7) in 2003 and contributing to U-M's sweep of the distance relays in 2005. A fixture in the U-M record book, he holds the school indoor 3,000-meter record (7:44.90) and, less than two weeks ago, clocked 13:27.54 to shatter the program's 27-year-old 5,000-meter outdoor mark en route to third place in the event at the NCAA Championships.
Both runners already have extensive experience at the international level, most notably Willis' 1,500-meter semifinal appearance in the 2004 Olympic Games. Willis also has a pair of World Cross Country Championships appearances (2003, '04) to his credit while Brannen's most significant compeitions include the 2001 World Track and Field Championships, 2001 Francophone Games and 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Ron Warhurst
On Brannen and Willis' decision to turn pro ... "It's really a win-win situation for everybody concerned. It affords these young guys an opportunity to further their athletic talents and abilities and add to the reputation of the Michigan distance program. They have an opportunity to make a living at it, which is really good. They're staying in town, going to school, and I'm going to coach them. They've put Michigan out there; everyone is very aware of our distance program here. They've been All-Americans, they've been NCAA champions, they've been Big Ten champions. There's nothing much else they could do. It's just been recently -- in the last 2-3 year -- that these opportunities have come up for track athletes. So, I think it's a good time for them to go."
Senior Nate Brannen
On his decision to leave early ... "I only had one outdoor season left, so I just didn't feel it was worth coming back a whole year just to run outdoor track. Coming into this year, the plan had been to redshirt cross country, and that would have left a cross country season as well as outdoor track for my fifth year. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the Olympics. So, I decided to run. Knowing that one more track season really isn't going to change who I sign with and what I sign for, the decision was pretty easy as long as I could get my school paid for."
On the transition into a professional running career ... "It does somewhat feel like I'm starting a new stage, but at the same time, I'm really just carrying on what I've already done. Nothing is really going to change. I'm staying in Ann Arbor and going to school in the fall. I'm going to graduate from Michigan. Other than not having one last outdoor track season, my life isn't changing at all."
On staying in Ann Arbor ... "It's important for me right now, just because the connections I've made here with my friends and Ron as my coach. I just feel really comfortable being in Ann Arbor. Things have really worked out for me here, so I can't really see myself going anywhere else and starting it all over without knowing whether or not it would pay off."
On the lasting impression of his U-M career ... "I'm definitely leaving with a positive feeling. We've done a lot of things here. Running with Nick, winning Penn Relay championships together as well as winning a couple (NCAA) relay titles and individual titles, I feel like I'm leaving on a high note. It would have been nice to win an outdoor title; that's one thing I never did. Getting injured this year, knowing prior to the injury that this was going to be my last season, that was the biggest disappointment about the whole thing. I'm pretty happy about how everything turned out here."
Junior Nick Willis
On his decision to turn professional ... "It's something that I'd been thinking about after I ran my 3:32 back in Rome a year ago. I was right on the edge of thinking I'd possibly do it at the end of last summer. I had expectations that I might run 3:30 or 3:29 in Zurich, and I thought if I did that, it might be time for me to move on in my career. I actually had a pretty rough day that day, and I realized maybe I wasn't quite ready to be racing with these big dogs every week. So, I thought I'd give it another year. I knew this would be my last year. It was a final chance to soak up the college atmosphere and get a chance to really establish myself in the Ann Arbor community, so I would feel comfortable staying here afterwards."
On staying in Ann Arbor to train ... "It's important to me to have a really amazing community. I have such a great network of friends and support people in my life here in Ann Arbor, outside of the sport especially. This is my home, and I have people that love and care for me every day that I can call about everything. That's something that when you're on the other side of the world is quite a special thing to be able to have. I also have an awesome athletic setup here with the team and great training partners around to keep me motivated and watch over me. You really need to have a comfortable environment for your training surroundings."
On starting a new stage in his career ... "I'm ready for it. It's been a very smooth transition. It's been a little bit overdue, but I think the way things will go this summer, it will be pretty clear cut that it was the right decision. I'm hoping this opportunity can produce great results on and off the track."
On the benefits of running for Michigan ... "I came here and learned a whole new concept of training and what it takes to be with the big dogs. Just being on a college team and training hard every day, that was the most important thing about this environment set up for me. I'd always had the racing opporunities, because I'd competed in several international races, but I'd never had the intrastructure setup geared towards excellence. That's been the biggest thing I learned from this experience. It's basically been a steppingstone and a platform to hopefully set me up for far greater and bigger things."
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
