BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Ben Johnson took home second team All-American honors finishing 12th with 5,545 points in the men's heptathlon at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships, Saturday evening.
 
Johnson finished day one of the heptathlon in 10th place with 3,180 points, a personal best day one score. He opened day two winning section four of the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.17, the fifth fastest time in the competition.
 
The redshirt senior battled through an injury to finish 16th in the pole vault (4.16m/13-7.75) and 13th in the 1000m with a time of 2:50.15. Johnson scored a total of 5,545 points and placed 12th overall to earn second team All-American honors, the first of his career.
 
"I am really proud of Ben," said head track and field director Steve Rainbolt. "This is a terrific honor for him to come home with second team All-American honors and I couldn't be more proud of his efforts to battle through an injury and I thought he handled that well with a great attitude."
 
"We consider this one the toughest meets to qualify for," said Rainbolt. "They only take 16 athletes, top-8 finishers are first team All-Americans and the remaining 8 are second team All-Americans."
 
Johnson finishes his indoor track and field career as a second team All-American, three-time all-conference athlete, including a 2019 American Athletic Conference heptathlon champion. His personal best score of 5,705 points ranks No. 2 on the Shocker all-time top-10 list.
 
NEXT UP
Wichita State will open its 2019 outdoor season hosting the Herm Wilson Invitational presented by Beynon Sports Surfaces on March 21-23.
 

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Head track and field director Steve Rainbolt was presented the 2018 Webb Cup. The Webb Cup is awarded by DECA, The Decathlon Association, as an attempt to recognize colleges and universities for both decathlon quality and quantity.
 
During the 2018 outdoor season, Rainbolt produced a decathlon group of nine athletes, including four scoring over 6,850 points.
 
"I'm really proud of the decathlon group from last year winning the Webb Cup as the top group in the country," said Rainbolt. "Having an 8,000 point scorer in Hunter Veith was a terrific anchor, but there was a bunch of guys in there that did a fabulous job to help us win that Webb Cup title."