She was an outstanding distance runner for Northern Arizona, who won four NCAA national titles.
Johanna Nilsson, who left the world on June 25, 2013, will always be remembered. The Big Sky Conference honors her memory, selecting her as the No. 2 “Greatest Female Athlete.’’
”I guess we have to ask the sky,” said Ida Nilsson when asked what it would mean to her sister being the No. 2 athlete. ”If I know her right, she lived very much in the moment and she didn't look back. But I know that she also loved her years at NAU and the people she got to know there.”
Johanna Nilsson, a native of Kalmar, Sweden, competed for the Lumberjacks in cross country in 2002, 2003 and 2005. She competed in track and field from 2003-06.
During Nilsson’s freshman campaign at NAU, she finished second at the Big Sky Conference Championship behind her sister Ida. Johanna went on to finish sixth at the Mountain Regional and 12th at her first NCAA Championship.
Nilsson took that NCAA experience into the indoor season, where she won the 800 meters and the mile at the Big Sky Championship. She went on to win her first NCAA title in the 800 meters with a time of 4 minutes, 32.49 seconds. Nilsson set the all-time league record in both the mile and 1,500 meters that season.
That outdoor season, she won the 800 and 1,500 at the Big Sky Championship. That season she set the all-time record in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:10.72.
During Nilsson’s sophomore season, she finished second again at the Big Sky Cross Country Championship behind her sister. She went on to finish sixth at regionals and 10th at the NCAA Championships.
During the indoor season, Nilsson won the 800 and went on to compete in the mile at the NCAA Championships. She was looking at winning her second NCAA title but fell short, finishing second.
During the outdoor season, she successful defended her title in the 800 and 1,500 at the Big Sky Championship.
Nilsson redshirted the cross country and indoor season that next year. She competed during outdoor and won the 800 and 1,500 at the Big Sky Championship. She went on to compete at the NCAA Championships in the 1,500 meters and finished second.
That next season was Nilsson’s best season at Northern Arizona. During the cross country season she won her first and only Big Sky Conference individual title. She went on to the Mountain Regional and won, and continued that momentum into Terre Haute, Ind.
On Nov. 21, 2005, Nilsson became to only NCAA individual cross country champion from the Big Sky Conference. The pace was fast on a LaVern Gibson Championship Course – so fast, in fact, that Nilsson set a course record with her winning time of 19:33.9.
"I felt really good after the first 2K," Nilsson said after the race. "I did not want to break away as early as the pack separated, but it ended up working out for me. I had no idea about the lead that I had going into the home stretch. I just wanted to finish hard and give it my best."
"Johanna is in phenomenal shape," said John Hayes, head cross country coach at the time at Northern Arizona, after the race. "We knew all along that Johanna had the ability to win this meet and she proved to everybody what she can do. I am extremely proud of all of our girls and how they performed this season. They worked hard and it paid off for us today. This is a great indication of where we want this program to go. This is a young team that has an even more promising future."
As a team, the Lumberjacks finished 12th.
The only other NCAA Champion for a Big Sky team was Northern Arizona’s Angela Chalmers, who won in 1986 when the Big Sky women’s teams competed in what was then known as the Mountain West.
Nilsson continued that stellar running in the indoor season. She won the mile and 1,500 meters at the Big Sky Championship. She set the championship record in the mile that season.
Nilsson went on to compete at her last NCAA Championship and she made it one to remember.
At the NCAA Championship in Fayetteville, Ark., Nilsson won the prelims on Friday in the mile with a time of 4:40.11. Villanova’s Marina Muncan was second with a time of 4:42.85.
Nilsson came back the next day and won the finals of the mile with a time of 4:37.78. Florida State’s Natalie Hughes was second with a time of 4:40.18.
That same day, just 90 minutes after winning the mile, Nilsson came back and competed in the 3,000 meters. She won with a time of 9:06.61. Providence’s Mary Cullen was second with a time of 9:10.22.
She became to only Big Sky athlete to win both races at the indoor NCAA Championships and win two events in the same year.
She was also just the fourth overall athlete to win both races at the NCAA Championship. It wouldn’t be done again until 2012.
After the indoor season, Nilsson was named the 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Nilsson redshirted the outdoor season that year to get ready for the European Championship in Sweden that summer. But one day, Nilsson voluntarily chose to walk away from the sport. She never ran a competitive race again.
"I leave Northern Arizona University with a lot of great individual and team memories," Nilsson said in a 2006 article in the Arizona Daily Sun. "While it would have been a tremendous challenge to defend the cross country title this fall, I am looking forward to the next stage of my life. The coaches have been tremendous in my development and I enjoyed my time in Flagstaff."
"I am not leaving to pursue professional interests but rather personal ones," Nilsson continued.
Between Johanna and her sister Ida, they won a total of six national titles, 19 all-American awards, 11 Big Sky indoor championships and 12 outdoor championships. Ida was named third on the Big Sky’s list of “25 Greatest Female Athletes.’’
“Johanna had an outgoing personality and always made her teammates smile,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins after her passing. “She was an amazing runner and had a huge heart for everyone around her.”
“Johanna was a very vivacious and caring young lady with a passion for running,” said former head coach Ron Mann, who coached Johanna during her first NCAA Championship title. “She was a joy to coach.”
Johanna was inducted into the 2011 Northern Arizona Hall of Fame. Ida was inducted in 2010.