Yolanda Johnson (2022) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Yolanda Johnson

Induction:
2022
Class:
1992

Affectionately known as “Yo-Yo” … The Colorado Sportswoman of the Year and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Amateur Athlete of the Year for 1986 … One of the first premier female high school track recruits in state history, CU head coach Jerry Quiller signed her to a letter-of-intent in the spring of 1986 when she was named Gatorade’s National Track & Field Athlete of the Year … A three-time first-team All-American, twice in the 100-meter hurdles (1990, 1991) and in the 55-meter hurdles (1990) … Remains the school record holder in the indoor 55-meter hurdles (7.60) that she set in the 1990 Air Force Invitational (and owns three of the top seven times at Colorado) … Still owns two of the top four times in the 100-meter dash (11.65 best in the ’90 CU Relays) and the fourth-best 100-meter hurdle time of 13.11, which she set at the ’90 NCAA Championships … Also had a career-best of 24.18 in the 200-meter dash … She participated in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic trials and was a member of the Flo Jo International Track & Field team … She had one of the most outstanding high school careers in Colorado state history, as she had a storybook finish in dominating her field of competition with every honor possible … She graduated “prep-perfect” from George Washington High School, as she never lost a race in her entire high school career … She was the fastest prep hurdler in the nation in 1985 with an All-America time of 13.60 seconds for 100 meters, was ranked three times as the No. 1 hurdler in the nation and had 100 scholarships offers for college by the time her senior year rolled around … That spring of ’86 was off the charts: 10 of her 11 high hurdles races eclipsed her 13.60 time the year before, with her best, a 13.25-second clocking made her No. 2 on the all-time prep list as well as the year’s No. 1 All-America; when she also recorded the fastest low hurdles time for 100-meters with a 13.06 at the Colorado High School Track and Field Championships, she was an unbeatable pick for the 1986 National High School Woman Athlete of the Year … Automatically inducted into the Sportswomen of Colorado Hall of Fame in 1986; that year, Colorado Governor Dick Lamm proclaimed June 25 as Yolanda Johnson Day … After graduating from CU in 1992 with a degree in Sociology, she served as an assistant track coach under Quiller and then Mark Wetmore from 1992 through 1999, training sprinters, hurdlers, relay team and mid-distance athletes … One of her pupils was CU Hall of Famer Yvonne Scott, and Olympian in the 100-meter hurdles … Her athletes played a huge part in CU winning its first Big Eight Conference Outdoor Track & Field championship, coming in the league’s last year of existence in 1996 … She started her own business in 2002 (One Solid Foundation, LLC), which provided nutritional consultation, weight training and a variety of strength and agility skill sets … From 2010-16, she was the head coach and founder of FK Elite Track and Field Club … She is currently an assistant track coach at Michigan State University, joining the Spartan program in the fall of 2016.