BOSTON — To end the final indoor track and field meet of Johnny Kemps’ college career, he ran the anchor leg of the distance medley relay, the penultimate race of the 2019 Patriot League Championship meet.

The 1,600 meters is the final leg of the distance medley relay, and Kemps received the baton from his Boston University teammate a couple steps behind the relay from Army.

Kemps closed the gap over the course of their eight laps, and they were side by side on the final straightaway.

“Coming into the final straight, I was fighting, fighting, fighting,” said Kemps, who is gay. “My eyes started to close up a little bit. Everything goes numb even though it’s hurting like crazy.”

Johnny Kemps runs an indoor track and field meet for Boston University. He took third place in the mile at the 2019 Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The runner from Army and Kemps reached the finish line at almost the same time. Army won the relay in 9 minutes, 56.64 seconds, and Kemps’ Boston team came in one-tenth of a second behind in 9:56.74.

“The last straight was, you know, fun. It was disappointing a little bit to see myself not come out on top when I fought that hard,” Kemps said. “You can only control what you did, and I did my absolute best. I was all out. I was 100 percent raw speed at the end, so I can’t ask for more.”

Kemps’ strong anchor leg along with top-five performances in two other events helped the Boston men’s track and field team to fifth place at the Patriot League meet, which took place Feb. 16-17.

“At the end of this meet, I said a little thank you to my body,” Kemps said. “Thank you for going through that, for racing three hard times with absolutely everything you got. It’s a gratefulness and gratitude and appreciation for my body and what it’s done.”

The top three distance medley relays from Army, Boston and Navy stand on the podium at the 2019 Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships.

In addition to anchoring the distance medley relay to second place, Kemps finished third in the mile (4:12.31) and helped the 4×800-meter relay come in fifth.

The 5-foot-11, 150-pound Kemps needed a strong final lap in the open mile to earn his bronze medal.

He sat in ninth place with 200 meters to go. Kemps passed three runners in those first 50 meters of that lap and moved into the top five.

The lead runner pulled away, but runners two through five battled to the finish line and finished within three-tenths of a second of each other.

“In the last 100 meters, it was all back and forth, back and forth,” Kemps said. “When I crossed the line, I didn’t know what my place was going to be. … It (third place) felt like a little bit of a relief. OK, I fought hard, and it wasn’t for nothing.”

Johnny Kemps shows off the third-place medal he received in the mile at the 2019 Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The success on the track felt good and encouraging heading to outdoor track and field season. But Kemps’ highlight of the weekend came after the distance medley relay when his relay teammates came and hugged him.

“I’m so grateful for my teammates,” Kemps said. “That’s why you do it. I don’t run for myself. I run for Boston, and I run for my teammates, who I love.”

Johnny Kemps is a senior on the Boston University men’s track and field team. You can contact him on Instagram @JohnnyKemps.

Names in bold are people that have announced publicly they identify as LGBTQ. Results are for competitions that took place Feb. 11-24.

Division I

Lisa Coe (junior, Pittsburgh women’s diving), Aidan Faminoff (junior, Florida State men’s diving) and Nathaniel Hernandez (junior, Duke men’s diving) competed at the ACC Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 20-23. Coe finished 26th on platform (146.85) and 40th on 1-meter springboard (162.55).

Faminoff took 17th on 1-meter springboard (268.95) and 25th on 3-meter springboard (226.5). Hernandez came in sixth on 1-meter springboard (337.05), seventh on platform (308.0) and ninth on 3-meter springboard (325.9).

Konrad Eiring (senior, Illinois men’s track & field), Dawson LaRance (sophomore, Minnesota men’s track & field), and Antonio Woodard (redshirt junior, Iowa men’s track & field) competed at the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Friday and Saturday.

Woodard helped Iowa win the 4×400-meter relay (3:07.46) and took fourth in the 200 meters (20.98 seconds). Eiring finished 10th in the 800 meters (1:51.44). LaRance came in 20th in the mile (4:14.45).

Taylor Emery (senior, Virginia Tech women’s basketball) contributed 24 points, eight rebounds and two steals to Virginia Tech’s 73-65 win against No. 14-ranked Miami on Feb. 21. The Hokies (17-10 overall, 4-10 ACC) went 2-2 the last two weeks.

Sam Fromkin (senior, American men’s swimming) competed on both the 400-yard freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay during the Patriot League championships on Feb. 20-23, and both his relays took seventh place. The American men finished seventh as a team in the 10-team field.

Kyle Goodwin (senior, Missouri men’s diving) finished third on 1-meter springboard (392.35), 11th on platform (323.3), and 12th on 3-meter springboard (350.15) at the Southeastern Conference championships in Athens, Georgia, on Feb. 19-23. His third-place finish marks the top performance of his career at the SEC meet. He helped Missouri’s men take second at the meet.

Abbie Hetherington (senior, Oklahoma State women’s track & field) finished eighth in the 1,000 meters (2:58.95) during the Big 12 Conference Indoor Track and Field Meet on Feb. 22-23.

Bree Horrocks (redshirt senior, Vanderbilt women’s basketball), Stephanie White (head coach, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) and Kelly Komara (assistant coach, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) saw the team go 0-4 the last two weeks. Horrocks provided two points, three rebounds and two blocked shots in a 65-60 loss to Mississippi on Feb. 14.

Vanderbilt at Tennessee on Feb. 28 is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Florida at Vanderbilt on March 3 is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

Matt Kravitz (junior, Lehigh men’s track & field), Michael Mitchell (sophomore, Lehigh men’s track & field) and Susie Poore (sophomore, Lehigh women’s track & field) competed at the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championship on Feb. 16-17.

Kravitz helped the distance medley relay finish fifth, and he took 13th in the mile (4:21.83). Mitchell came in 16th in the 5,000 meters (15:34.95) and 28th in the 3,000 (8:59.5). Poore finished ninth in the 5,000 meters (17:50.87).

Sam Lewis (sophomore, Southern California men’s volleyball) provided six kills and three blocks in a five-set loss to Stanford on Feb. 14. The Trojans (7-7 overall) went 0-3 the last two weeks.

Justice Lord (senior, Barton men’s volleyball) recorded nine kills and four blocks in a four-set win against Mount Olive on Feb. 19. The Bulldogs (11-3 overall) went 5-0 the last two weeks.

Will Lynch (senior, Vermont men’s track & field) finished eighth in high jump (6 feet, 1/2 inches) at the America East Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday.

Anthony Muscianao (junior, Drexel men’s diving) won the 1-meter springboard (287.6) and took second on 3-meter springboard (277.85) during the Colonial Athletic Association Championship meet on Feb. 20-23.

Matt Young (sophomore, Arkansas men’s track and field) finished seventh in the 5,000 meters (14:19.0) and 10th in the 3,000 meters (8:14.25) during the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday.

Jenny Allard (head coach, Harvard softball) led the Crimson to a 2-3 record to open the season Feb. 22-24.

Lee-J Mirasolo (assistant coach, Harvard women’s hockey) finished the regular season with a 2-2 tie with Yale on Saturday. Harvard enters the postseason 11-13-5 overall.

Jesse Moore (assistant coach, Minnesota women’s swimming) and Manny Pollard (diving coach, Illinois women’s swimming and diving) coached Feb. 20-23 in Bloomington, Indiana, at the Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, where Minnesota finished fourth and Illinois took 13th.

Colleen Mullen (head coach, Albany women’s basketball) guided the Great Danes (11-16 overall, 8-6 America East) to go 1-3 the last two weeks. Albany beat UMass Lowell 56-53 on Feb. 13.

Simon Thibodeau (head coach, UC-Santa Barbara women’s tennis) led the Gouchos to go 1-2 the last two weeks with the win Sunday against San Jose State 5-2.

Division II

Andre Williams (sophomore, Central Missouri men’s track & field) took 15th in the 400 meters (49.89 seconds) and helped the distance medley finish eight during the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships from Friday and Sunday. He helped the Mules capture the team title, their first since 2013.

Shawn Becker (head coach, Missouri Western women’s tennis) led the Griffons (4-2 overall) to a 6-1 win over Quincy on Friday.

Kylon Drones (assistant coach, West Texas A&M men’s track & field) joined his former team as a volunteer assistant coach. He saw the team capture the Lone Star Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship on Feb. 16-17.

Division III

Kyle Davis (senior, Ithaca men’s track & field) finished seventh in triple jump (42-9) and 11th in long jump (20-9) during the Liberty League Championships on Friday and Saturday. He helped Ithaca win the men’s team title.

Alec Donovan (redshirt junior, Centenary wrestling) captured third place at 165 pounds during Sunday’s NCAA Mideast Regional Championship to earn a berth to the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career. He went 4-1 during the regional.

Lindsey Farrell (senior, McDaniel women’s lacrosse) recorded two goals and two assists during the Green Terror’s season-opening 18-11 loss to St. Mary’s on Saturday.

Abram Gregory (sophomore, Vassar men’s fencing) earned a win at epee against Columbia, which beat Vassar 15-12 on Feb. 13.

Isaac Hanson (sophomore, Hamline men’s swimming) took 12th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:01.35) during the MIAC Championships on Feb. 14-17.

Harrison Knowlton (senior, Middlebury men’s track & field) took fourth in the 5,000 meters (15:13.4) during the Division III New England Championships on Feb. 22-23. He won the 5,000 meters in 15:28.15 during the Middlebury Team Challenge on Feb. 16.

JoAnnah Lim (junior, Alverania softball) went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs in Sunday’s 11-8 win against Shenandoah. Alverania opened the season by splitting Sunday’s doubleheader with Shenandoah.

Nathan Matthews (senior, Wittenberg men’s volleyball) provided eight digs and two assists in a four-set loss to Mount St. Joseph on Feb. 16. The Tigers (11-6 overall) went 4-1 the last two weeks.

NAIA

Felipe Oliveira (senior, Cardinal Stritch men’s volleyball) recorded four digs, three kills and two blocks during a four-set loss to St. Xavier on Feb. 18.

Nick Clark (head coach, Clarke men’s volleyball) led the Pride (6-7 overall) to go 2-2 the last two weeks.

NJCAA

Lexie Gerson (head coach, Harcum women’s basketball) ended the regular season with a 63-47 win against Morris on Feb. 19. Harcum (20-7 overall) earned the No. 2 seed in the Region XIX tournament.

Layne Ingram (head coach, Lansing women’s basketball) led the Stars (8-19 overall) to go 2-4 the last two weeks.

Erik Hall can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @HallErik or Facebook. If you are an out LGBTQ athlete or coach and want your accomplishments recognized, please email Erik.

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