Bio

Karis Johnson enters the 2024-25 season in her fourth year as the Anderson University head cross country coach and her fourth year as an assistant track and field coach.

Anderson Women's Cross Country finished fourth in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA D-III GPA rankings. The women's team received the USTFCCCA Team Academic Award in each of the three years of Johnson's tenure while the men's team has earned the USTFCCCA Team Academic Award twice. 

In 2021, Johnson led the women’s cross country team to fourth place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championships, marking the program’s best finish since 2014. The 2023 men’s cross country team enters the season with a roster size of 18, the program’s largest roster since 2004. In her first two season, Johnson has coached combined totals of eight all-conference selections and six first-team all-conference selections in cross country.

Cross country has combined for a total of 24 academic all-HCAC recipients during Johnson’s tenure. In 2022, the Anderson women’s cross country team led the HCAC with seven academic all-HCAC selections.

Johnson serves as the distance coach in track and field. Anderson distance has tallied combined totals of two conference event champions and nine all-conference finishes during Johnson’s tenure.

Johnson spent two years as an assistant cross country and track and field coach at NCAA Division II’s Lewis University. She also competed for NCAA Division II’s McKendree University for four years.

During Johnson’s tenure at Lewis, the Flyers secured three Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) titles. The men’s cross country team claimed the 2020 conference championship while the women’s track and field team captured the 2020 indoor title and the 2021 outdoor title. Lewis’s women’s track and field team then took sixth place during the 2021 NCAA Division II Championships. Johnson coached the distance runners for Lewis. During that time, the Flyers totaled five all-conference recipients in cross country and three all-conference selections for the Lewis distance team in track and field.

While at McKendree, Johnson earned two fourth-place finishes in the 800 during the GLVC Championships. Johnson holds personal records of 2 minutes, 16.12 seconds in the 800-meter run and 5:08.30 in the 1-mile run. She served on McKendree’s Student-Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) and was also named McKendree’s GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship recipient for women’s outdoor track and field in 2016.

While at McKendree, Johnson earned a certification of First Aid in Mental Health. She also served as a CPR and First Aid instructor.

An Indianapolis native and Lawrence Central High School alumna, Johnson graduated from McKendree with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science and Sports Performance in 2018. She then earned her a Master of Business Administration from Lewis in 2021.