Ryan Johnson (Springboro, Ohio) is no stranger when it comes to having success in throws, and his latest comes at the U20 World Athletic Championships in Lima, the capital city of Peru.
The rising sophomore takes home a fourth-place finish in the Hammer Throw with his longest throw topping at 72.13 meters.
At 19 years old, Johnson is now ranked as the fourth-best hammer thrower in the nation. He also threw a 71.06m hammer at the USA Track & Field Championships on June 13.
Johnson had a dominant freshman season wearing the colors of Eastern Michigan. He was on the All-MAC first team in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. He also had event wins, the Weight and Hammer Throws. He concluded his accolades in his freshman season by winning the Freshman Field Performer of the Year in the Mid-American Conference.
In this event, the Eagles also had a few other athletes represent the program, including Jake McEachern (Lloydminster, Alberta), Paige Marchant (London, Ontario), and Nikol Antoniadi (Didimoticho, Greece, Geniko Lykeio Didimotichou).
McEachern's 67-meter throw placed him in 18th place in the qualifying round for the Hammer Throw. He represented Canada in this competition, as did Paige Marchant, who ran a 4:26.31 in the 1500m to take 23rd place.
Antoniadi ran in the 100-meter sprint for her respective country of Greece. She came in 48th place in the event with a clocked time of 14.45 seconds.
The Cross Country season is underway for Eastern Michigan. They had their first season meet at the Jeff Drenth Memorial on August 30. Putting up results that could lead to a promising season, the men came in first place as a team, and the women came in second place. The men had 31 points and the women had 38 points.
For more coverage on the EMU cross country and track & field teams, visit The Echo’s Website.
