Coaching Staff
Chris
JOHNSON Associate Head Coach
Seventh Year Lamar, ‘99
SPRINTS, HURDLES, RELAyS Coaching Awards and Honors 2011 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the year 2010 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the year 2010 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the year 2009 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the year 2008 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the year 2008 USTFCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the year
Lions’ women’s team title. Johnson’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’s athletes also played a key role in the Nittany Lions’ fourth-place “Trophy Team” 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
Associate Head Coach Chris Johnson will begin his eighth season directing the Nittany Lion
individual events, as well as both relays.
men’s and women’s sprints, hurdles, and relays contingents, following a sensational cam-
Individually, Barber paced the Nittany Lion sprints and hurdles squad with a bronze-medal
paign in 2011.Throughout the 2011 campaign Johnson-coached athletes bettered a total of
finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while Dorr turned in a
four school records, while freshman Brady Gehret ran to bronze-medal honors in the 400-
fourth-place effort in the 400-meter hurdles, and Greaves placed seventh in the 200-meters.
meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Johnson was also named USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year - the sixth such honor of his coaching career.
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
Since coming to Happy Valley in the fall of 2004, Johnson has guided well over 50 All-
Championships. Johnson’s athletes claimed two individual and one relay title, with Greaves
America performances, including NCAA victories from Shana Cox in the 400-meters and
taking the 60 and 200, and the squad of Doris Anyanwu, Caitlin DeFusco, Greaves, and Dorr
Dominique Blake, Barber, Gayle Hunter, and Cox in the 4x400-meter relay in 2008. Johnson
setting a Big Ten Meet Record 3:35.38 en route to the program’s fifth-straight victory in the
has directly coached many of Penn State’s most decorated athletes in program history, includ-
indoor conference 4x400. Nationally, Johnson led Greaves to a third-place finish in the 200
ing Cox and Barber, who have both earned 11 All-America citations a piece. Johnson’s
– the Lions’ highest finish in the event since 2004 – and guided Dorr to fifth-place honors in
athletes have also enjoyed outstanding success on the Big Ten stage, with 20 individuals and
the 400. The Nittany Lions were well represented in the sprints in total, with Greaves earn-
13 relays earning conference crowns.
ing All-America honors with an 11th-place finish in the 60, DeFusco placing 17th in the 200,
In 2011, Johnson guided a trio All-America 4x400 relays with the women’s squad finish-
and the 4x400 finishing in ninth overall.
ing sixth indoors and fourth outdoors, and the men’s team taking fifth at the NCAA Indoor
Internationally, Johnson coached newcomer Evonne Britton to a pair of berths to the IAAF
Championships. All told, Johnson has overseen a grand total of nine All-America relays,
World Junior Championships, via an individual victory in the 400 hurdles at the USATF Junior
including an NCAA title run in the women’s mile relay in 2008. Johnson’s relays have been a
Championships, as well as a runner-up standing in the 100 hurdles. Britton joins a growing
mainstay at the national level in recent years, as the Nittany Lions are the only squad to have
list of athletes on Johnson’s international resume, including Barber, who represented Trinidad
posted top four finishes in each of the last four years in the women’s 4x400 at the NCAA Out-
and Tobago at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and the 2009 IAAF World Championships
door Championships.
in Berlin. Johnson also led his wife and world-class heptathlete, Virginia Johnson, to appear-
Indoors, Johnson coached freshman phenom Gehret to a school-record 46.22 in the 400,
ances at the IAAF World Championships in 2005 and 2007.
while the men’s 4x400-meter relay, including Gehret and fellow Johnson protege Aaron
Johnson's athletes have rewritten the Penn State record books over the past seven years,
Nadolsky, clocked a school-record 3:07.27. The duo also assistant on the Nittany Lions’
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.
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’s 4x400-meter quartet of Doris Anyanwu, Ije Iheoma, Greaves, and Megan Duncan. On the men’s side, Johnson led Gehret to a runIn 2010, Johnson’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
PENN STATE 2010-11
tering 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
ner-up standing the in 400.
6
Outside, Johnson-coached athletes own a total of six records, including the mile relay's blis-
to bronze-medal honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and a fourth-place finish at the outdoor national championships.
TRACK AND FIELD/CROSS COUNTRy