Coming off of yet another strong season for Binghamton, graduate student Marcus Johnson has been named Pipe Dream’s Binghamton male athlete of the year. Competing in 16 track and field meets this season, he accumulated numerous accolades in arguably the strongest season of his career.
“I feel like I worked pretty hard for [the award],” Johnson said. “This year, the year I had and just the build up to this, I’m excited and fortunate to have received that.”
Johnson earned multiple America East nods throughout the season, being named the Men’s Most Outstanding Track Performer for his win in the 400 hurdles and anchoring the winning 4×400 relay team at the America East Outdoor Meet, which took place from May 3 to May 4. On April 15, he was also named the America East Men’s Track Athlete of the Week.
Along with the awards, Johnson earned gold in numerous events this season, including the triple jump at the America East Indoor Championships, the 200 at the Gulden Invitational and the 400 hurdles at the Colonial Relays.
“I feel like [my season] was really good,” Johnson said. “I think it was a culmination of just a whole bunch of years kind of put together. All that progress, all that training and learning kind of finally meshed into the perfect alignment. I stuck to my guns, and everything, it made sense this year.”
Entering this year, Johnson came off back-to-back successful seasons. In his junior year, he won the 200 meter at the Cornell Upstate Indoor Challenge, and in his senior season, he took home gold in the 400-meter hurdles at the America East Outdoor Championships. He was named to multiple honor rolls in both seasons.
Despite putting up two incredibly successful seasons, Johnson continued to improve, having an even better season this year. He told Pipe Dream about the mindset he and his coach had coming into the season.
“The motto was essentially, ‘complete the story,’” Johnson said. “’You came on as a walk on, barely made the team, and that story was cool, but how cool would it be to make it to Nationals?’ Throughout the practice, throughout the training, that was kind of the motto, complete the story and just finish out strong.”
This was Johnson’s last season of eligibility to compete for Binghamton, and he finished out strong for the Bearcats. Among BU’s all-time program records, Johnson stands at seventh in the 400 hurdles with a time of 53.94, seventh in the long jump with a distance of 23-6 and third in the triple jump with a distance of 49-5 1/2, as of summer 2023. He was also a part of the distance medley relay team that holds the fifth all-time spot in Binghamton program history with a time of 9:48.54.
Johnson named his performance at the America East Outdoor Meet as his most memorable moment from the season.
“[It] would just be the regional meet, being that it was my last opportunity to compete with the team as a whole,” Johnson said. “We finished out with a four by four that we won it, we weren’t seeded to win it, so finishing it just the way I started with guys was ending on a high note, [earning] track performer of the meet, which was great.”
“And I think that was just a time that the team was all together, good vibes, good energy,” he continued.
In his second appearance at the NCAA East Region Meet qualifier, Johnson shattered his previous PR in the 400 hurdles, placing seventh with a time of 49.93 and earning a berth to the NCAA Track and Field Championships. At the Championships, Johnson’s collegiate career came to a close as he finished in 22nd place with a time of 52.57, earning honorable mention All-American honors for the first time.