Chris Johnson named National Assistant Coach of the Year
NEW ORLEANS – Arkansas associate head coach Chris Johnson is the 2023 USTFCCCA Women’s Outdoor National Assistant Coach of the Year, earning the award for the fifth time in his career.
This is the second time Johnson has earned the honor for the outdoor season, having previously earned the accolade in 2019. Johnson has also collected the honor three times during the indoor season in 2018, 2021, and 2023.
As the Arkansas head coach in waiting, Johnson will officially become head coach of the Razorback women’s program on July 1.
The 2023 outdoor season included three collegiate records by Britton Wilson in the 400m, lowering the mark to 49.13 with her SEC victory. Wilson defended a pair of SEC titles in completing another sweep of the 400m and 400m hurdles, producing a one-day world best in the pair of races with times of 49.13 and 53.28.
In winning the NCAA 100m hurdles title with a wind-aided time of 12.25 seconds, Ackera Nugent produced a collegiate all-time best under all-conditions as she defeated a field which included the current collegiate record holder in Kentucky’s Masai Russell (12.36) as well as the defending champion in LSU’s Alia Armstrong, who had the previous all-conditions best of 12.31w.
On the all-conditions world all-time list, Nugent’s 12.25w ranks equal to the No. 6 performer with an equal No. 10 performance.
Johnson’s event group scored all 46 points that Arkansas produced in placing third at the NCAA Outdoor meet. In winning the SEC team title, his event group supplied 59 of 134 points from seven events.
Among five Razorback entrants in the NCAA 400m, three advanced to the final and scored 19 points off a 2-3-4 finish that included Wilson (49.64), Nickisha Pryce (50.23), and Rosey Effiong (50.77), who all produced the best-ever mark for their respective places in a NCAA final.
It marked only the fourth time for a school to have three athletes score in the NCAA 400m, and the Razorbacks produced the third best result following a Texas 1-2-3 (24 points) in 1996 and a 1-3-4 (21) by Texas in 2014.
However, Arkansas’ average time of 50.22 ranks best, over the pair of Texas trios (51.07 [2014], 52.29 [1996]) and USC (51.09) in 2021.
Nugent also led off the Arkansas 4 x 100m relay that finished fourth in the NCAA final with a 42.83, the second fastest time in school history to the 42.65 UA record set at the 2019 NCAA meet, also held in Austin.
Arkansas finished the NCAA Outdoor meet with a victory in the 4 x 400m relay, as the winning time of 3:24.05, seventh best in NCAA history, bettered the field by two full seconds and ranks third on the Razorback all-time list.
The win completed a sweep of 4 x 400m titles in 2023 for Arkansas after having won NCAA Indoor with an all-time world best of 3:21.75 that remains the world leading time for 2023.
