TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; Halfway through his 400-meter hurdle race
Saturday, freshman Brandon Johnson looked side to side to check out
where his competition was.
He saw no one.
“I was trying to look around, but I couldn’t see
them,” Johnson said. “I thought they had either fallen,
died or they were coming.”
They were there, of course, only they were a few seconds behind
him.
At this weekend’s Pac-10 Championships at the University
of Arizona, Johnson sped by Oregon’s Brandon Holiday to win
the individual conference title in the hurdles. Not only did he win
the race, Johnson’s blistering 48.85 seconds was the fastest
time in the world this year. He broke his previous personal record,
set two weeks ago at the UCLA-USC dual meet, by almost two and half
seconds.
“Johnson was a huge story,” UCLA coach Art Venegas
said. “That was a world-class run. It may be the performance
of the meet. I can’t say enough about Brandon Johnson.
Tonight, he showed everybody what he was really capable of
doing.”
It also helped the Bruins add another 10 points to their score,
which all but clinched the team title. Fellow UCLA hurdler Jonathan
Williams finished second in his event, giving the team eight more
points.
Johnson’s performance, which one coach described as
“unbelievable,” now ranks fourth in school history
behind that of storied alum Kevin Young, and broke the freshman
school record.
What’s even more remarkable is that this is only the third
time Johnson has run the event outdoors. Ever.
After suffering an injury during the indoor season, Johnson
didn’t start to compete outdoors until the UCSD Triton
Invitational towards the end of April. There, he ran the event in
51.24 and finished with one of the best overall times. At the USC
meet, Johnson cut his time to 51.15 and won the event.
“We held him for most of the season because I wanted to
protect the end of his season,” sprints coach Tony Veney
said. “We wanted him healthy for regionals and nationals, so
he’s been taking it a little bit at a time.”
Now with NCAA regionals in two weeks and the national
championships just around the corner, a similar performance by
Johnson could send him to Sacramento for the Olympic Trials in
July.
But surprisingly enough, until Saturday’s performance,
Johnson hadn’t been very happy with his recent success.
“He was down on himself lately, crying a lot even,”
travel roommate and 4×400 relay partner Craig Everhart said.
“He wasn’t satisfied. He knew that he had more in him.
I told him to keep the faith.”
Everhart’s advice paid off, and Johnson even credited his
teammate immediately after finishing his event for helping to keep
his mind off the race all day.
It’s been a long journey for Johnson in the eight months
since he left his home of Austin, Tex. Johnson’s high
school coach had to approach Venegas about getting the hurdler a
scholarship.
“I went all out,” Venegas said. “His high
school coach said to me, “˜I’m training him to beat the
world record in the hurdles.’ I told Veney that and we
started early (to recruit him).”
Apparently, Johnson is starting early as well.