Jay Johnson - Cross Country Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Jay Johnson

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
jay.j.johnson@colorado.edu
Phone:
303-492-2406

Jay Johnson enters his sixth season on the coaching staff at his alma mater.

Johnson returned to his alma mater in 2002 from Pratt Community College where he was the head men’s and women’s cross country/track and field coach since May of 2000. Johnson assists with the cross country runners in the fall and coaches CU’s middle distance runners in the spring, in addition to his responsibilities as the recruiting coordinator for the Track & Field program.

Johnson, a Castle Rock, Colo., native, was a three-year letterwinner for CU in cross country and track and field. While at CU, his squad won three Big 12 and three Mountain Region titles, and took a then-program best third-place finish at the NCAA Championships his senior year.

He was a 12-time academic all-conference selection, the Byron White Student-Athlete award recipient in 1997 and was named the CU Male Scholar Athlete of the Year for the 1998-99 academic year.

Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and applied physiology in 1998 and his master’s in kinesiology in 2000 from Colorado.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities Coach Johnson has presented at the numerous events, including Nike Team Nationals, Rocky Mountain Distance Summit and the Colorado High School Coaches Association Clinic and the Wings of America Clinic. Johnson is also the director of the Boulder High Altitude Running Camp, one of the premier high school running camps in the country.

Johnson, born on Sept. 15, 1975 in Kearney, Neb., is married to Laura Sturges, a former cross country and indoor distance medley relay All-American at Georgetown, who is a 2005 CU Law School graduate.