With Much Already Accomplished, Johnson Has More in Sight
Feb 17, 2022 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
She is one of the four fastest females to run the 1,000 meters in Kansas State history. She is one of the three fastest females at K-State to run the 800 meters. She has set meet records and appears poised for a second Big 12 Indoor Track and Field title. She is a perfectionist. She is a Wichita native. She never thought she would make it this far. And now, Kassidy Johnson is a whisker from school records and fights for a NCAA qualifying mark.
"The body achieves what the mind believes," she says.
The mind. That's the challenge. In fact, that's been an obstacle all along.
Johnson won three 2016 KSHSAA 5A State Championships in the 400 meters, 800 meters and the 1,600 meters at Maize South High School. She won another state championship her senior year. But, yes, even in hitting those milestones, even after K-State assistant track and field coach Ryun Godfrey came calling, and after Johnson, a lifelong K-State fan, achieved a dream, she teetered on the edge of perfectionism mixed with self-doubt heading into her college career.
"After my sophomore year of high school, when I didn't live up to what I knew I could do, I dedicated my entire life to the sport, which I do attribute to my success, for sure, but I also think I kind of lost myself to it, as well, so it came with a caveat, of course, but it was really great for it to pay off," she says. "People see it's this perfect thing, but there was a caveat there."
She suffered from a lack of confidence.
"I had this expectation when I headed to college," she says, "that I wouldn't necessarily ever win a race again."
But here she is, and she has accomplished so much.
During the 2019-20 season, she ran the fastest mile run (4:48.00) and 1,000 meters (2:44.89) in the Big 12 Conference and soared to gold at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 1, 2020.
Last season, she won the 1,000 meters (2:51.41) at the K-State Winter Invitational, she won the 800 meters (2:13.44) at the Wildcat Invitational, then she won the mile run (4:57.63) and 800 meters (2:14.38) at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular. When she won the 600 yards with a personal best (1:26.06) at the Jayhawk Classic, and then won the 1,000 meters (2:50.81) at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, it gave her five first-place finishes in five meets. She finished runner-up (2:46.77) in the 1,000 meters at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
She has also captured five first-place finishes in five meets this season.
She's been pretty busy.
"Just over the years with training and with racing you begin to prove to yourself that you can do it, as weird as that sounds — you should just know — but sometimes it takes that sort of proving, and then just trying to trust in my training and my coach and in knowing that I've done everything I can do to get to where I am when I step on that line is important," she says. "I just have to trust in that and know that whatever happens, happens, but I've done everything that I can."
This season, Johnson set the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular record in the 1,000 meters (2:47.17) on January 14, she set the DeLoss Dodds Invitational mile run record (4:47.92) on January 22, and she won the 800 meters (2:05.57) at the Husker Invitational on February 5. Her 800-meter time of 2:05.57 at the Iowa State Classic last Thursday was 0.41 seconds off the school record.
"Most of us experience this, but personally, I get really nervous before races and even after all of this time I'm still just as nervous as my first-ever races," she says. "Finally, once that gun goes off, it all releases, and it is just straight adrenaline in trying to hit splits and trying to get around competitors. Then toward the end of the race, when you see the finish line, it's you against someone else, and it's a feeling unlike no other.
"As soon as the race is over, when the race goes well, that feeling is completely unmatched and it's something I don't know if I'll ever be able to replicate after I'm finished with athletics. It's just that feeling of accomplishment and the way that you push your mind and body like no other is — I don't even know how to describe it, and I don't think it can be replicated in any other way."
Through it all, it's shaped her as a person.
"It's made me who I am today in all the good and bad ways," she says. "It's probably the single-most influential factor in my life. It's taught me so much about mental toughness, physical toughness.
"It's also taught me a lot about myself because I can be a very type A perfectionist person, and with the nature of the sport that's what is needed, but it can also be really harmful, and you can take it too far. It's a very objective sport. It's very easy to compare yourself to other athletes and know exactly where you stand because unlike other sports it's just you against the clock, and the clock doesn't lie, and there's no room for anyone to judge your skills. That can sometimes be a mode that people take too far. It's taught me how to find balance in that."
She's discovered balance in other ways of her life as well.
Johnson graduates this spring with a dual major in dietetics and Spanish. In fact, in between class and practice, she currently works as a nutrition coach for a therapy clinic in Wichita, something that she calls "incredibly rewarding and fulfilling." Her interest in dietetics began shortly after she suffered a tibial stress fracture while playing basketball her sophomore season in high school. She sought to enhance her recovery through nutrition — something that became somewhat harmful when she performed her own online research and began an overly restrictive diet.
"One factor in me wanting to become a dietician is to help people filter out misinformation and to be a professional guide for other people — to be the person I needed in high school," she says. "As time went on, I learned a lot more, I learned all the things that go into one's experience with food, whether that be your relationship with good, your socioeconomic status, trauma that you have, your access to food, education, implicit health care — all of these factors go into one's experience with food.
"It's not as simple as, 'Eat this, don't eat that.' It's evolved into this desire to remove the burden of nutrition from people and to help people use nutrition to enhance their lives. It's really evolved as I've evolved, and I'm really excited to begin a career in it."
Before Johnson launches her promising career, she has a couple of goals that she hopes to accomplish.
She prepares for her final meet of the regular season — the Steve Miller Invitational on Friday in Manhattan — on the cusp of something truly great. Yes, she has improved her self-confidence during her five years at K-State, and has steadily grasped the magnitude of her achievements, yet there's that next step, which might appear somewhat elusive, but that is within reach.
She ran a time of 2:05:57 in the 800 meters to win the Husker Invitational on February 5.
Now she must run under a 2:04.25 to earn the 16th and final national qualifying mark.
"There's definitely some pressure, and the school record and nationals being something I've always wanted to achieve, but I also now know it's not everything, and I think that's something that's taken me five years to realize," she says. "I can be committed to the sport and not lose myself in the sport. Even if I fall short, I'm going to give it one more go this weekend, and I'm going to do my best. That's exciting."
After a lengthy journey, the mind appears calm.
She is one of the four fastest females to run the 1,000 meters in Kansas State history. She is one of the three fastest females at K-State to run the 800 meters. She has set meet records and appears poised for a second Big 12 Indoor Track and Field title. She is a perfectionist. She is a Wichita native. She never thought she would make it this far. And now, Kassidy Johnson is a whisker from school records and fights for a NCAA qualifying mark.
"The body achieves what the mind believes," she says.
The mind. That's the challenge. In fact, that's been an obstacle all along.
Johnson won three 2016 KSHSAA 5A State Championships in the 400 meters, 800 meters and the 1,600 meters at Maize South High School. She won another state championship her senior year. But, yes, even in hitting those milestones, even after K-State assistant track and field coach Ryun Godfrey came calling, and after Johnson, a lifelong K-State fan, achieved a dream, she teetered on the edge of perfectionism mixed with self-doubt heading into her college career.
"After my sophomore year of high school, when I didn't live up to what I knew I could do, I dedicated my entire life to the sport, which I do attribute to my success, for sure, but I also think I kind of lost myself to it, as well, so it came with a caveat, of course, but it was really great for it to pay off," she says. "People see it's this perfect thing, but there was a caveat there."
She suffered from a lack of confidence.
"I had this expectation when I headed to college," she says, "that I wouldn't necessarily ever win a race again."
But here she is, and she has accomplished so much.
During the 2019-20 season, she ran the fastest mile run (4:48.00) and 1,000 meters (2:44.89) in the Big 12 Conference and soared to gold at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 1, 2020.
Last season, she won the 1,000 meters (2:51.41) at the K-State Winter Invitational, she won the 800 meters (2:13.44) at the Wildcat Invitational, then she won the mile run (4:57.63) and 800 meters (2:14.38) at the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular. When she won the 600 yards with a personal best (1:26.06) at the Jayhawk Classic, and then won the 1,000 meters (2:50.81) at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, it gave her five first-place finishes in five meets. She finished runner-up (2:46.77) in the 1,000 meters at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
She has also captured five first-place finishes in five meets this season.
She's been pretty busy.
"Just over the years with training and with racing you begin to prove to yourself that you can do it, as weird as that sounds — you should just know — but sometimes it takes that sort of proving, and then just trying to trust in my training and my coach and in knowing that I've done everything I can do to get to where I am when I step on that line is important," she says. "I just have to trust in that and know that whatever happens, happens, but I've done everything that I can."
This season, Johnson set the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular record in the 1,000 meters (2:47.17) on January 14, she set the DeLoss Dodds Invitational mile run record (4:47.92) on January 22, and she won the 800 meters (2:05.57) at the Husker Invitational on February 5. Her 800-meter time of 2:05.57 at the Iowa State Classic last Thursday was 0.41 seconds off the school record.
"Most of us experience this, but personally, I get really nervous before races and even after all of this time I'm still just as nervous as my first-ever races," she says. "Finally, once that gun goes off, it all releases, and it is just straight adrenaline in trying to hit splits and trying to get around competitors. Then toward the end of the race, when you see the finish line, it's you against someone else, and it's a feeling unlike no other.
"As soon as the race is over, when the race goes well, that feeling is completely unmatched and it's something I don't know if I'll ever be able to replicate after I'm finished with athletics. It's just that feeling of accomplishment and the way that you push your mind and body like no other is — I don't even know how to describe it, and I don't think it can be replicated in any other way."
Through it all, it's shaped her as a person.
"It's made me who I am today in all the good and bad ways," she says. "It's probably the single-most influential factor in my life. It's taught me so much about mental toughness, physical toughness.
"It's also taught me a lot about myself because I can be a very type A perfectionist person, and with the nature of the sport that's what is needed, but it can also be really harmful, and you can take it too far. It's a very objective sport. It's very easy to compare yourself to other athletes and know exactly where you stand because unlike other sports it's just you against the clock, and the clock doesn't lie, and there's no room for anyone to judge your skills. That can sometimes be a mode that people take too far. It's taught me how to find balance in that."
She's discovered balance in other ways of her life as well.
Johnson graduates this spring with a dual major in dietetics and Spanish. In fact, in between class and practice, she currently works as a nutrition coach for a therapy clinic in Wichita, something that she calls "incredibly rewarding and fulfilling." Her interest in dietetics began shortly after she suffered a tibial stress fracture while playing basketball her sophomore season in high school. She sought to enhance her recovery through nutrition — something that became somewhat harmful when she performed her own online research and began an overly restrictive diet.
"One factor in me wanting to become a dietician is to help people filter out misinformation and to be a professional guide for other people — to be the person I needed in high school," she says. "As time went on, I learned a lot more, I learned all the things that go into one's experience with food, whether that be your relationship with good, your socioeconomic status, trauma that you have, your access to food, education, implicit health care — all of these factors go into one's experience with food.
"It's not as simple as, 'Eat this, don't eat that.' It's evolved into this desire to remove the burden of nutrition from people and to help people use nutrition to enhance their lives. It's really evolved as I've evolved, and I'm really excited to begin a career in it."
Before Johnson launches her promising career, she has a couple of goals that she hopes to accomplish.
She prepares for her final meet of the regular season — the Steve Miller Invitational on Friday in Manhattan — on the cusp of something truly great. Yes, she has improved her self-confidence during her five years at K-State, and has steadily grasped the magnitude of her achievements, yet there's that next step, which might appear somewhat elusive, but that is within reach.
She ran a time of 2:05:57 in the 800 meters to win the Husker Invitational on February 5.
Now she must run under a 2:04.25 to earn the 16th and final national qualifying mark.
"There's definitely some pressure, and the school record and nationals being something I've always wanted to achieve, but I also now know it's not everything, and I think that's something that's taken me five years to realize," she says. "I can be committed to the sport and not lose myself in the sport. Even if I fall short, I'm going to give it one more go this weekend, and I'm going to do my best. That's exciting."
After a lengthy journey, the mind appears calm.
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