COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Senior Kellyn Johnson finished off her remarkable indoor season breaking her own school record in the mile to place third and earn All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships inside the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University.

Johnson battled Tennessee's Sarah Bowman and Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego at the front of the field, finishing third in the race with a time of 4:34.41. The Sussex, Wis., native's time broke her own school record set just one week ago at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Bowman beat Kipyego in the race by .03 seconds with a time of 4:29.72, setting a new NCAA Championship meet record.

"Going into the race, I knew that these girls were fast but, I was going in to win," Johnson said. "The race went really well and it came down to the last 200 and those girls took of but I still had enough left to hold off for third."

With Bowman and Kipyego setting a fast pace early in the race, Johnson and North Carolina's Brie Felnagle stayed with the leaders as they broke away from the pack. The group of four finished the first half-mile in 2:15, and were still together with 400 meters to go. With 300m left Kipyego and Bowman seperated from Johnson and Felnagle. In the battle for third, Johnson passed Felnagle with 200 to go and held off Florida State's Pilar McShine who ended up fourth.

"We knew going in that Kipyego and Bowman wanted to take the race out fast," WSU distance coach Marc Burns said. "Our thought was to have Kellyn settle in and hang on with them as long as she could. She put herself in it and gave herself a chance. She has had a tremendous year and to run a PR and be an All-American is an athlete's dream and a coach's dream."

Johnson became the 34th WSU student-athlete in school history to earn All-America honors, and the 11th female. Her third place finish is the highest at the NCAA Championships for WSU since Jackie Brown placed third in the pole vault at the 2006 outdoor championships.

"I know her sights are set on winning a title outdoor," Burns said, looking forward to the upcoming outdoor season. "Her dream is to win a national title, and now she knows now she can do it and run with the best in the country."

--WICHITA STATE--