Azusa Pacific Star Rises Above Competition : Colleges: High jumper Johnson will attempt to win third consecutive outdoor title at NAIA meet in May.

At the Golden State Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships March 16, Azusa Pacific University Coach Cres Gonzalez calculated that the Cougars needed a winning high-jump effort from Latrese Johnson to win the women’s title.

The only problem was that Johnson had been sick all week with the flu.

“I asked her if she could just do 5 foot 6 and she said she’d do it,” Gonzalez said. “She was supposed to take only one jump and I turned around for a little and the next thing I know she’s trying 6-2.”

Johnson won the event at 6-foot and the Cougars won the championship by six points.

It takes more than an illness or injury to keep Johnson from competing.

The 24-year-old senior has been injured heading into each of her appearances in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics indoor and outdoor championships, although it has not stopped her from winning her specialty.

Johnson has won three consecutive titles in the high jump at the indoor final. She hopes to take her third in a row at the outdoor championships in May at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Tex.

Johnson has been a winner in the high jump since she started competing as an eighth grader. But she really began to blossom at Clovis High.

“I came out of the woodwork,” she said. “I struggled at 5-10 for a long time and then finally hit the 6-0 mark at a national meet. I (improved) five inches in one meet.”

As a junior in 1985, Johnson soared to 6-2 3/4, a height that tied the national high school record.

“I still go to the state meet sometimes and last year a girl went 6-1 3/4 and then she put it at 6-3 to try and break the record and she didn’t even come close,” Johnson said. “It was a little bit of a relief for me because I get to hold onto it for one more year.”

With her high school success, Johnson was one of the most heavily recruited track performers in the state. She decided to attend USC.

But she never actually competed for the Trojans, staying at the school for a semester. She decided to transfer when the coach that initially recruited her departed.

“I found that things weren’t the same as they said they would be when I was first recruited,” Johnson said. “I really wasn’t pleased with a lot of things there. I don’t have anything against USC, it’s just that at the time the coaching situation was very unstable.”

She transferred to Fresno State, which is close to her hometown, but stayed for only a year.

“Fresno State offered me a scholarship, too, and I went there but I really felt I needed a place where I could grow,” she said.

Johnson initially thought she would transfer to nearby Fresno Pacific, a small NAIA school. But with her boyfriend and now her fiance, former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Michael Moffitt, living in Los Angeles, she decided to give Azusa Pacific a try.

Gonzalez said he had difficulty believing that Johnson, who was already developing into a world-class high jumper, was interested in transferring to Azusa Pacific.

“I got a message that Latrese Johnson was interested in coming to school here and I thought someone was playing a joke on me,” he said. “I thought it was another one of (former Azusa decathlete) Dave Johnson’s practical jokes.”

This time it was not a joke. Johnson was indeed interested in coming to Azusa Pacific and transferred to the school for the 1988-89 season.

Johnson says she has had no regrets about leaving the ranks of the NCAA Division I for an NAIA school.

“A lot of people look at me and think I left a lot of good

(programs) behind me,” she said. “But I think I needed to do that in order to grow as a person. I had to make some sacrifices and I went without a lot, but the rewards here have been so many. I wouldn’t change a thing.

“To me, it’s worth it to be at a place where you want to be. I like APU and I like the Christian atmosphere here and that’s the thing that’s most important to me. I wanted to go to a Christian school and this was the right place for me.”

She said one of the drawbacks of competing for an NAIA program is that she lacks top-flight competition in most of her meets. Before she arrived at Azusa Pacific, she established her personal best of 6-4 1/2 at the Kobe International meet in Japan and she also finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis and was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic Team.

But Johnson said competing at Azusa Pacific has only strengthened her character.

“I can’t compete in the NCAAs but that doesn’t mean I can’t compete against the marks that they get,” she said. “It’s not easy to compete against yourself unless you’re used to it, but fortunately I’m used to it. I do need that push sometimes but I know what I have to do to compete at a certain level.”

If Johnson ever had any doubts about herself, she may have removed them at The Athletics Congress national meet in June at Cerritos College.

She had already cleared 5-10 and was attempting 6-1 3/4 when she slipped on her approach to the bar, skidded and went face first into the high jump mat. Johnson wound up with several cuts and bruises and lost a tooth when she hit the mat.

Although she was still bleeding and dazed from the fall, she insisted on finishing the event and cleared 6-1 3/4 to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Festival. She went on to win the gold medal at the Olympic Festival with a leap of 6-0 1/2.

“She has that concentration level that’s just incredible,” Gonzalez said. “She will block out anything. It doesn’t matter how bad it is.”

Johnson believes her best days are still ahead.

“They say that a high jumper doesn’t reach their potential until they’re 27 so I’ve still got plenty of time,” she said.

Johnson said she will continue high jumping for at least another five years.

“I see myself going to the 1992 Olympics and training through the 1996 games,” she said. “After 1996 I’ll see where I am but as far as I’m concerned I’m in it for the long run. I’ll do it as long as it remains fun for me and I’m having fun right now.”