Two NCAA championships, one appearance in the Olympic 400-meter hurdles semifinals, three Big Ten outdoor championships, one Michigan track and field record ...
Aside from turnips and a dash of salt, the recipe for Neil Gardner's accomplishments as a member of the Michigan track team lacks almost nothing.
Gardner, a senior, didn't exactly close out his Michigan career in ideal fashion, finishing only sixth in the 400 hurdles at last week's NCAA championships - an event he won last year. But Gardner said he didn't want his legacy to consist simply of athletics, anyway.
"My goal here was not just to run track," Gardner said. "I also wanted to make my academic contributions and extra-curricular as well. I want to be known as a rounded student athlete, as opposed to just a good runner."
Gardner also did more for the Michigan men's track team than just add new chapters to the record book. When he came to Michigan from Jamaica as a freshman, the team suffered from poor unity and camaraderie. As a senior co-captain, Gardner worked to change that.
"The unity of the team escalated several-fold," Gardner said. "Now we have guys waking up at 9 a.m. to watch a 5,000-meter run. They're making sacrifices to make sure they're there for each other, which is a step in the right direction.
"It's been a tremendous help to have the team there as a family of friends to support me."
Although Gardner left his mark on many things besides statistics sheets - he maintained a 3.3 GPA while majoring in biochemistry - his extraordinary success on the track will leave the greatest impression on Michigan fans.
Gardner said that although he may not have peaked at the right time, his senior year was his best as an athlete.
"I don't want to let that isolated bad race hold me back, because I've had only two bad races this year, as opposed to maybe nine last year," Gardner said. "People probably have in mind that I lost the race because the other guys were faster, and I don't think that's entirely true. I lost because I had a bad race."
Some star athletes deal with their success by becoming arrogant and brash. Gardner's levelheaded approach to his own outstanding career characterizes his stay at Michigan just as well as any laundry list of his accomplishments.
"When I look back at Michigan, I don't see any negatives as far as how I've progressed through the years," Gardner said. "Even the defeats and the lackluster performances - if it wasn't for those, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the good sides as well. I consider my career to be a total success."