DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - It would be hard to call the rookie campaign for Bethune-Cookman sprinter Tristie Johnson ordinary, but this season has now shifted fully into extraordinary territory, as the Jacksonville native freshman has been selected among an elite group to represent USA Track & Field at the World University Games next month.
“It's a tremendous honor,” Head Coach Donald Cooper said. “It's well-deserved and I'm honored to be a part of it as her coach, and I'm ecstatic for her.
As the first B-CU athlete selected for the honor, Johnson will join the team of just 10 men and 10 women to represent the United States on the international stage, running July 9-10, at Central Stadium in Kazan, Russia. With a career-best time of 23.21 at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships, Johnson will compete for the USATF team in the 200m dash.
“I'm excited,” Johnson said. “The main things I want to do are make the school proud and make my family proud, but it's most important to make myself proud.”
“It's a big accomplishment for me because coming in I didn't think I was going to make it this far,” Johnson said. “When [Coach Cooper] hit me up and told me about it, I was ecstatic on the inside, because I really wanted to make the team after I was disappointed last year.”
A graduate of Jacksonville's Ed White High School, Johnson was ranked second among high school athletes in the December 2012 issue of Track & Field News, was named to the USA Today All-USA Team and ran a wind-aided top national time in the 100m. After high school graduation, she was also involved in the Adidas Dream 100 and USA Junior Championships.
Johnson's 2012-13 regular season ended with a 16th place finish in the 200m at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Semi-Finals in Greensboro, N.C. However, in addition to the WUG bid, the Wildcats' top freshman is slated to compete at the USATF Senior Nationals June 20-23 in Des Moines, Iowa.
“She's a student of the sport and a fierce competitor,” Cooper said. “She's been able to display, on a national stage, that she is an athlete of that caliber. We expected some great things from the beginning, and she's on track to being one of the elite athletes in her event.”
As a member of the USATF squad, Johnson joins a team with a high-caliber history. The 20-athlete squad from the last WUF, 2011 in Shenzhen, China, earned a combined five NCAA Outdoor national titles, as part of 18 top-five NCAA event finishes.
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