Augustana University Athletics

No matter the race or conditions, it was rare not to find Stacy Johnson battling for the lead. However, there was the time she had no chance to win but learned finishing was just as important.

In the fall of 1994, the Augustana cross country team was in Kearney,Neb., hoping to qualify for nationals. Johnson, a freshman from La Crescent, Minn., was running in the top ten when she fell. "I tried to get up and I staggered around before falling again, "She said."I think I crawled a little before I heard my coach tell me to get up and just walk across the finish line." She did, but was deep in the pack. Johnson was taken to a hospital by ambulance apparently suffering from dehydration. She later learned that had she not completed the 5,000-meter course,
Augustana's team would not have qualified for nationals. "Sometimes there is value in finishing last," she said.

Ten times she earned All-America distinction in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. She was a four-time North Central Conference track champion. She won the indoor 3,000 in 1998 (9:54.69), the outdoor 3,000 in 1996 (10:08.87) and 1998 (10:06.44), and the outdoor 5,000 in 1998 (17:26.48). She finished third in the 5,000 at the 1997 indoor nationals in school record time of 16:56. She was ranked in the top eight nationally by the NCAA for the 3,000 in 1996, 1997, and 1998. She finished eighth at the NCAA cross country championships in 1996 and ninth in
1997.