Johnson Leads Cobber Decathletes

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (5/4/12)—Brad Johnson led a quartet of Cobbers at the MIAC Decathlon on Friday at Carleton. Johnson finished in eighth place with a season-best total of 5,493 points.
 
Johnson was the top Concordia athlete at the event. He was followed by senior Caleb Giesen who placed 14^th and Nikolaj Hagen who finished in 16^th place. Logan Carlson had to withdraw from the event on Saturday after pulling a muscle during Friday's first five events.

Johnson's total is 119 points better than his final score in last year's conference decathlon. It is also less than 100 points shy of his personal best of 4,581 set at the NDSU Decathlon Meet in 2010. Johnson scored more than 500 points in seven of the 10 events at this year's meet. He also scored over 600 points in four events with his highest point total coming in the 400-meter dash when he racked up 671 points after running 53.26. Johnson had the third fastest time of any competitor in the 1500 meters.  

The hard luck story of the meet belonged to Giesen who had to take zero points in the 110-meter hurdles after hitting the 10^th hurdle and subsequently being disqualified. Had he not hit the hurdle and failed to score any points in the single event he was projected to finish in fourth place. Giesen's best event at the meet was 400-meter dash where he scored 611 points. Giesen scored over 600 points in the 400 meters, discus and 1500 meters. He had the best score of any competitor in the discus and second-best mark in the javelin.

Competing in his first conference multi-event Hagen scored over 450 points in the four running events and finished with a total of 4,060 points. His best event came in the 400 meters where he clocked a 57.10 and posted a score of 517 points.     

The four athletes will now join the rest of the Cobbers when they compete at the Ron Masanz Invite held at MSU Moorhead on Saturday, May 5. Concordia will host the MIAC Championship Meet on May 10-11.   

Final MIAC Decathlon Standings
1. Maxwell Dunne, Sr, St. Thomas - 6201
2. Gavin Yseth, Jr, St. Thomas - 6151
3. Patrick Ecklund, Jr, St. Thomas - 5868
4. C J. Dale, Jr, Carleton - 5747
5. Matt Flotterud, Fr, Gustavus - 5605  
6. Dylan Cheever, Jr, Carleton - 5593
7. Colby Seyferth, Fr, Carleton - 5571  
8. Brad Johnson, Jr, Concordia - 5493  
9. Matt Johnson, Sr, St. Olaf - 5385  
10. Evan McNeil, Fr, Carleton - 5366  
11. Andrew Ferguson, So, Hamline - 5293  
12. Derek Rausch, Jr, Saint John's - 5226  
13. Nick Thies, Fr, Saint John's - 5188  
14. Caleb Giesen, Sr, Concordia - 5127  
15. Tamas Peterson, Fr, St. Olaf - 5087  
16. Nikolaj Hagen, Concordia - 4060