Michigan
NCAA Indoor Championships
Johnson Earns First-Team All-America Honors on Final Day of NCAAs
3/12/2022 7:43:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Birmingham, Ala. (Birmingham CrossPlex)
Event: NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships (Day 2 of 2)
U-M Result: T-41st of 92 teams (four points)
Next U-M Event: Fri.-Sat., March 18-19 (at UCF Black and Gold Invitational / Orlando, Fla.)
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Cole Johnson earned first-team All-America honors in the 800-meter final Saturday afternoon (March 12) as the University of Michigan men's track and field team closed out both the NCAA Indoor Championships and the 2022 indoor season at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Johnson finished sixth overall in the eight-man final in 1:48.88 to score three points for the Wolverines in the overall team standings. Combined with the one point earned from Michigan's eighth-place distance medley relay on Friday evening, Michigan tied for 41st place with four points.
Just as he did in his preliminary race on Friday, Johnson ran from the back of the pack and waited to pick his spots. He came through the halfway point in seventh and moved up to sixth by the time the pack came through 500 meters, avoiding some of the jostling that was happening in the group ahead of him.
As the bell rang for the final lap around the 200-meter banked track, Johnson was still running sixth. He briefly fell to seventh with just 100 meters to go as an Ole Miss runner passed him on the final curve, and had to navigate around a Texas Tech runner who stumbled in front of him with 80 meters to go. He closed hard but could not reel back in the Rebel in the closing meters.
His was the best finish by a Michigan man since Andrew Ellerton won the silver medal in 2007, and he joins Ellerton, two-time NCAA Champion Nate Brannen (2003, 2004, 2005) and Ron Kutscunski (1969) to finish top-six in the event indoors.
With the indoor season now complete, select sprinters, jumpers and throwers will begin their 2022 outdoor campaign next Friday and Saturday (March 18-19) at the UCF Black and Gold Invitational in Orlando, Fla.
Full results can be found below.
Michigan Results by Event
Q / q = qualified for final
400 meter dash
Prelims
13. Dubem Amene / 46.98
800 meter run
Final
6. Cole Johnson / 1:48.88 [three team points]
Prelims
8. Cole Johnson / 1:48.00q
14. Miles Brown / 1:50.64
60 meter hurdles
Prelims
16. Joshua Zeller / 7.85
Distance Medley Relay
Final
8. Tom Dodd, Dubem Amene, Miles Brown, Nick Foster / 9:30.46 [1 team point]
Players Mentioned
