The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
NCAA Championships
Johns Takes 12th In 10,000 At NCAA Championships
6/5/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
June 5, 2013
EUGENE, Ore. ---- UAB's Rhiannon Johns capped off her collegiate career Wednesday night in much the same fashion she has displayed the past five years, running toe-to-toe with the nation's elite en route to a 12th place finish in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Johns, one of the most decorated student-athletes in program history -- both on the track and in the classroom, finished with a time of 34:15.62 to finish ahead of 12 other runners who had joined the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native in the 10k final at historic Hayward Field.
Johns earned her spot in the final with her performance two weeks ago at the NCAA East Regional at Greensboro, N.C.
"It has been a pleasure getting to watch Rhi race during her collegiate career," said UAB head coach Kurt Thomas. "She came out tonight and ran a tough race in hot conditions and finished top 12 in the country. Her goals were to score obviously, but I believe she finished higher than she was ranked coming in based on season bests, so that's hard to argue with. We are very proud of the way she has represented UAB during her four years."
For Johns, it was her second appearance in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She qualified two years ago in the 5,000-meter run.
Iowa State's Betsy Saina won the event with a time of 33:08.85.
The Blazers' 4x100-meter relay team of Kyana White, Angel Watson, Shakima Knox and Alexis Bates, coming off back-to-back school-record efforts, was not able to duplicate its recent performances and finished with a time of 45.41, failing to advance to Saturday's final. The UAB foursome had qualified for Nationals two weeks ago at Greensboro, N.C. when they ran a time of 44.81.
"The 4x100m relay simply didn't have a very good day," Thomas said. "We've been focusing on executing and competing, and today we just didn't have any juice. It's disappointing for them and for me as their coach. We return all four of them next year and hope to get better and have another shot at the NCAA meet."
UAB junior Elinor Kirk is the Blazers' lone competitor still to race in the meet. The product of Swansea, Wales, U.K. will run in the 5,000-meters Friday at 6:15 p.m. PT.
