Carlton Native and Former Bulldog Headed To NSIC Hall of Fame

June 21

Northland Sports Online

Kerrick Johnson, the only two-time national individual champion University of Minnesota Duluth athletics has ever produced in its 80-year history, will join six other enshrinees on July 13 when the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame holds its 2011 induction ceremonies.

The event will take place at the Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Cloud, Minn. The class of 2011 also includes Trip Hedrick (Bemidji State University), Mike Berg (Minnesota State University-Moorhead), Don Meyer (Northern State University), Jim Hazewinkel (St. Cloud State University), Julie (Thein) Boom (Southwest Minnesota State University) and Nate Gruber (Winona State University).

Johnson, a native of Carlton, Minn., became the first Bulldog athlete in any sport to claim an NCAA title as a junior in 1992 when he placed first in the indoor shot put and then duplicated that feat one year later in the discus at the NCAA II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

In all, he attained NCAA II All-American status on six occasions (three in the outdoor discus, two in the outdoor shot put and one in the indoor shot put) during his four-year career and qualified for four national outdoor meets in the discus and two each in the outdoor and indoor shot put.

A four-time Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference outdoor discus title holder, Johnson also claimed a pair of league indoor (1991 and 1992) and outdoor shot put crowns (1992 and 1993) and exited the Bulldog track program in 1993 owning all shot put (indoor and outdoor) and discus records.

Johnson, who was inducted into the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006, also captained the Bulldogs to their first NSIC indoor and outdoor team championships as a senior.

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