Youngstown State University

Leslie Johnson
Track & Field
2003-04
Leslie Johnson has been a dedicated athlete on the track and student off the track since coming to Youngstown State in the fall of 2000. While excelling in the classroom with a 3.73 grade-point average in Business-Marketing Management, Johnson showed her dedication by improving her placing at the league meet each year.
Johnson worked up from a 10th-place finish in 2001 in the 400-meter dash to winning the Horizon League Championship in the event this past February. For her efforts of improvement on the track and commitment in the classroom, she is the recipient of the 2004 Vindicator YSU Female Athlete-of-the-Year award.
A native of Oregon, Ohio, Johnson helped the Penguins win the 2004 Horizon League Women’s Indoor Track & Field Champoinship two months ago.
In the 400 meters, she set a school record with a time of 57.25 winning her event by just a hundredth of a second. Johnson nipped defending league champion UW-Milwaukee’s Tenia Fisher, who after the meet was named the 2004 Horizon League Track and Field Indoor Athlete of the Year.
She was also part of YSU’s school and Horizon League record-setting 4x400-meter relay team (3:52.80) along with Jeanna Cunningham, Danielle Bolt and Alex Casi that won a conference title.
The Penguins won their first Horizon League title by scoring 143 points, easily outdistancing runner-up UW-Milwaukee by 30 points.
Johnson was just one of three seniors on the squad and helped set the tone for the title with her win.
But Johnson’s first-place finish in her final meet showed her work ethic.
As a freshman, she placed 10th in the 400 meters at the Mid-Continent Conference indoor meet and was 23rd in the 200. The next year, in her first Horizon League meet, she moved up to ninth at the indoor conference with a season-best time of 59.85 and was 12th in the 200. At the outdoor meet, she had a personal-best time of 58.30 seconds in the 400 meters placing fifth.
As a junior, Johnson moved up to fifth in the Horizon League in the 400 with a personal-best time of 58.82 seconds. She also earned second-team Horizon League honors as part of the 4x400 relay team.
After sitting out the outdoor season, the table was set for Johnson to sprint to the top. This past Febuary she did that winning the 400-meter dash title. She is off to a good start this outdoor season posting the best time in the league in the 400 and helping the 4x400 relay teams to the top spot in the conference.
A three-time Horizon League All-Academic team member and a volunteer at Park Vista Retirement Community, she is a graduate of Oregon High School. Leslie’s parents and John and Cathy Johnson.