Seventh Year at Penn State
Alma Mater: Lamar University 1999
E-Mail: cpj3@psu.edu
Office Phone: 814-863-3147
Awards and Honors:
* 2011 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2010 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2010 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2009 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2008 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2008 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year
Outstanding Athletes Coached:
Shana Cox
* 11-Time NCAA All-American
* 2008 NCAA Champion (400 Meters, 4x400)
* 15-Time Big Ten Champion
* Eight-Time Penn State Record Holder
* American Record Holder (500m)
* Currently runs professionally for Adidas.
Brady Gehret
* 2011 NCAA Indoor Bronze Medalist, 400m
* Four-Time Penn State Record Holder
* 2011 Big Ten Runner Up, 400m
Aleesha Barber
* NCAA Champion
* 11-Time NCAA All-American
* 2008 Olympian (Trinidad and Tobago)
* 2009 IAAF World Championships Qualifier (Trinidad and Tobago)
* Eight-Time Big Ten Champion
* Seven-Time Penn State Record Holder
Fawn Dorr
* Seven-Time NCAA All-American
* Eight-Time Big Ten Champion
* 2010 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Track Athlete of the Year
Gayle Hunter
* NCAA Champion
* Nine-Time NCAA All-American
* Four-Time Penn State Record Holder
* Five Time Mid-Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year
Shavon Greaves
* 14-Time Big Ten Champion
* Nine-Time NCAA All-American
* 2010 Big Ten Indoor Athlete of the Year
Dominique Blake
* NCAA Champion
* Four-Time NCAA All-American
* Seven-Time NCAA Qualifier
* Six-Time Big Ten Champion
Gigi Johnson
* Two-Time IAAF World Championship Qualifier
* 2006 USATF National Champion (Heptathlon)
* 2005 USATF Runner Up
Associate Head Coach Chris Johnson will begin his eighth season directing the Nittany Lion men[apos]s and women[apos]s sprints, hurdles, and relays contingents, following a sensational campaign in 2011.Throughout the 2011 campaign Johnson-coached athletes bettered a total of four school records, while freshman Brady Gehret ran to bronze-medal honors in the 400-meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Johnson was also named USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Women[apos]s Assistant Coach of the Year - the sixth such honor of his coaching career.
Since coming to Happy Valley in the fall of 2004, Johnson has guided well over 50 All-America performances, including NCAA victories from Shana Cox in the 400-meters and Dominique Blake, Barber, Gayle Hunter, and Cox in the 4x400-meter relay in 2008. Johnson has directly coached many of Penn State[apos]s most decorated athletes in program history, including Cox and Barber, who have both earned 11 All-America citations a piece. Johnson[apos]s athletes have also enjoyed outstanding success on the Big Ten stage, with 20 individuals and 13 relays earning conference crowns.
In 2011, Johnson guided a trio All-America 4x400 relays with the women[apos]s squad finishing sixth indoors and fourth outdoors, and the men[apos]s team taking fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. All told, Johnson has overseen a grand total of nine All-America relays, including an NCAA title run in the women[apos]s mile relay in 2008. Johnson[apos]s relays have been a mainstay at the national level in recent years, as the Nittany Lions are the only squad to have posted top four finishes in each of the last four years in the women[apos]s 4x400 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Indoors, Johnson coached freshman phenom Gehret to a school-record 46.22 in the 400, while the men[apos]s 4x400-meter relay, including Gehret and fellow Johnson protege Aaron Nadolsky, clocked a school-record 3:07.27. The duo also assistant on the Nittany Lions[apos] record-setting relay outdoors, running 3:07.19.
During the 2011 indoor season, Johnson oversaw conference winning efforts from Shavon Greaves in the 200-meters, as well as the women[apos]s 4x400-meter quartet of Doris Anyanwu, Ije Iheoma, Greaves, and Megan Duncan. On the men[apos]s side, Johnson led Gehret to a runner-up standing the in 400.
In 2010, Johnson[apos]s sprints/hurdles contingent highlighted by a dominate effort at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, adding an impressive total of 93 points towards the Nittany Lions[apos] women[apos]s team title. Johnson[apos]s sprint-hurdle corps ran the table in their event area, claiming individual titles in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meters, as well as the 100- and 400-meters hurdles, and 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays.
Johnson[apos]s athletes also played a key role in the Nittany Lions[apos] fourth-place [quote]Trophy Team[quote] finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year, thanks to All-America efforts from Aleesha Barber, Fawn Dorr, Shavon Greaves and the 4x400 relay. All told, Johnson guided seven athletes to the NCAA outdoor meet, with athletes representing the Blue and White and four individual events, as well as both relays.
Individually, Barber paced the Nittany Lion sprints and hurdles squad with a bronze-medal finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while Dorr turned in a fourth-place effort in the 400-meter hurdles, and Greaves placed seventh in the 200-meters.
The Lion sprinters and hurdlers were equally as successful during the 2010 indoor campaign, with Greaves running a world-leading 22.98 for the 200 at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Johnson[apos]s athletes claimed two individual and one relay title, with Greaves taking the 60 and 200, and the squad of Doris Anyanwu, Caitlin DeFusco, Greaves, and Dorr setting a Big Ten Meet Record 3:35.38 en route to the program[apos]s fifth-straight victory in the indoor conference 4x400. Nationally, Johnson led Greaves to a third-place finish in the 200 - the Lions[apos] highest finish in the event since 2004 - and guided Dorr to fifth-place honors in the 400. The Nittany Lions were well represented in the sprints in total, with Greaves earning All-America honors with an 11th-place finish in the 60, DeFusco placing 17th in the 200, and the 4x400 finishing in ninth overall.
Internationally, Johnson coached newcomer Evonne Britton to a pair of berths to the IAAF World Junior Championships, via an individual victory in the 400 hurdles at the USATF Junior Championships, as well as a runner-up standing in the 100 hurdles. Britton joins a growing list of athletes on Johnson[apos]s international resume, including Barber, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin. Johnson also led his wife and world-class heptathlete, Virginia Johnson, to appearances at the IAAF World Championships in 2005 and 2007.
Johnson[apos]s athletes have rewritten the Penn State record books over the past seven years, as Johnson-coach sprinters now own nearly 20 school standards, including the indoor 60, every event from 300-through-1000-meters indoors, as well as all hurdling and relay events. Outside, Johnson-coached athletes own a total of six records, including the mile relay[apos]s blistering 3:27.69 - the top collegiate mark in 2008.
On the NCAA level in 2009, Johnson guided his always competitive 4x400-meter relay to a pair of All-America finishes, leading the quartet of Barber, Greaves, Dorr, and Gayle Hunter to bronze-medal honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and a fourth-place finish at the outdoor national championships.
Individually, Johnson coached Barber, Greaves, Dorr, and Hunter to NCAA berths during both the indoor and outdoor seasons, headlined by a runner-up finish from Hunter in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Under Johnson[apos]s watch, Hunter would set school records in the pentathlon (4342), and heptathlon (5797) over the course of 2009, and cap her NCAA career with a fifth-place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. One of the most decorated athletes in recent history, Hunter concluded her Lion career with an outstanding nine All-America finishes.
Indoors, Johnson led Greaves to her first All-America citation, thanks to a 10th-place finish in the 200-meters, while Barber also grabbed All-America honors with a fourth-place effort in the 60-meter hurdles. Greaves also hit her stride at the conference level in 2009, winning a total of four Big Ten titles, including the 60- and 200-meters indoors, and the 100- and 200-meters outdoors. The Nittany Lion 4x400 - which has won gold-medal honors in seven of the last eight Big Ten Championships - also claimed a conference win during the indoor championships.
Outdoors, Johnson guided Dorr to a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles at NCAAs, as well as runner-up finishesin the 400 and 400 hurdles at the Big Ten Championships. Dorr would also capture the Penn State record in the quarter hurdles during the 2009 campaign, running an impressive 56.91. The junior would also anchor the Lions[apos] winning 4x400 at the NCAA East Regional Championships, clinching Penn State[apos]s second-straight victory in the event.
On the men[apos]s side, Johnson coached Mike Cadau to a breakout season in the sprints, leading the junior to a bronze-medal finish in the 400 at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, and a fourth-place effort at the outdoor conference meet. Cadau was also a member of the Nittany Lions[apos] school-record and NCAA-qualifying distance medley relay during the indoor season.
Johnson[apos]s athletes fired on all cylinders in 2008, including national championship finishes from Shana Cox in the 400-meters, and Dominique Blake, Barber, Hunter, and Cox in the 4x400-meter relay. Johnson led Cox, arguably the greatest athlete to ever wear the Blue and White, to an astounding total of 11 All-America honors over her Nittany Lion career. In 2008, Cox[apos]s 50.84 400 meters not only broke her own Penn State record, but was also the fastest time by a collegian in 2008, and the fifth fastest by an American. Johnson had Cox in top shape in 2008, as she closed out her Penn State career going undefeated in the 400 during the outdoor collegiate season, while collecting six Big Ten titles, three NCAA East Region victories, and Mid-Atlantic Region, Big Ten, and Penn State Athlete of the Year citations.
Under Johnson[apos]s watch, Cox captured 15 Big Ten victories and now owns a grand total of eight Penn State records.
Johnson[apos]s 4x400 was just as outstanding in 2008, picking up the Lions[apos] first Penn Relays victory during the women[apos]s NCAA era, as well as conference, regional, and national titles. Johnson[apos]s relay collected its fifth-straight 4x400 victory at the Big Ten Indoor Championships (Blake, Simmons, Barber, Cox), before claiming fifth-place honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships (Blake, Barber, Cox, Dorr) earning an All-American finish for the second-consecutive year.
Johnson[apos]s charges posted a total of nine All-America finishes in 2008, including fifth-place finishes from Hunter in the heptathlon and long jump, and a tenth-place effort from Blake in the 400. Dorr - an All-American on the 4x400 indoors - finished 11th in the 400 hurdles, coming up just shy of another All-America finish.
Indoors, Johnson led Cox and Barber to individual All-America finishes at the NCAA Championships with Cox finishing fourth in the 400, and Barber taking eighth in the 60 hurdles. Johnson[apos]s athletes came away from the 2008 Indoor Championships with seven All-America finishes, including a fifth-place effort from Hunter in the pentathlon.
The Penn State sprint stable was also solid on the men[apos]s side in 2008, as Ron Jules - an NCAA regional qualifier - captured runner-up honors in the 110-meter hurdles at the outdoor conference championships.
Before moving to Penn State, Johnson played a two-year stint at sprint powerhouse Arkansas, assisting legendary Associate Head Women[apos]s Coach, Rolando Greene. While at Arkansas, Johnson worked with a bevy of talented sprinters, including Veronica Campbell and LaShaunte[apos]a Moore. An outstanding athlete in his own right, Johnson graduated from Lamar University (Beaumont, Texas) in 1999. Johnson earned his degree in kinesiology and was a Sun Belt Conference champion in the 400 meters.
Johnson married the former Gigi Miller in October 2005. Gigi Johnson. Gigi Johnson - a former U.S. Champion in the heptathlon is also a volunteer assistant for the Nittany Lions. The Johnsons reside in State College.