Wisconsin junior Lawrence Johnson won the men’s 100-meter dash at Oregon Relays Friday, crossing the finish line in 10.52 seconds with a .17 second gap over his competitors.
Johnson said the plan was “to execute the first half of the race and let the second half come to me.” He said he has been working on the drive phase and being patient in the beginning and then building more power. “Then I let that momentum through the rest of the race,” he said.
According to Johnson, training this technique is not that easy. “Nothing is really easy in track. But it’s fun to work on,” he said.
Johnson’s goal wasn’t to aim for a time. “But I’m happy to walk out with a win because it’s still a competition at the end of the day,” he said.
Any opportunity Johnson gets to compete and put in place from practice against competition is “major,” he said. “You can do it at practice all the time, but when you’re actually on the line and your heart is beating and the emotions come through, it’s one of those things where you have to try to execute through the race,” he said.
Johnson was satisfied with the win—especially since it was at Hayward Field. “It’s pretty good energy,” he said. “Besides, the facilities, you just always feel like you are running on history.”
Going forward, Johnson plans to reflect on the race and continue to improve. Johnson and his team are still in a heavy training cycle — lifting heavy and running often. “We’ll build on it later and see what we could improve on before conference,” he said.
Spectators from the event on Friday might’ve noticed a key feature from Johnson’s race: his sunglasses. Johnson said his sunglasses block out the light and give him a different view. “It’s just kind of shaded down. The colors pop out a little—just a little bit of track swag,” he said.
