Washington State University Athletics

As a student-athlete at Pe Ell High School near her hometown of Doty, Wash., one sport was never enough for Alissa Brooks-Johnson. No matter if it was volleyball, basketball, or track and field, Brooks-Johnson excelled in all three, garnering numerous accolades throughout her four years.  Even in track and field, one event was never enough as she won multiple state titles in five different events. At that time, Cougar Head Track & Field Coach Rick Sloan, and later Head Coach Wayne Phipps, knew early in her career that the heptathlon was Brooks-Johnson’s path to stardom. Oh, how correct they were. During her five years at Washington State (2013-18), Brooks-Johnson etched her name alongside the great athletes to wear the Crimson and Gray. After finishing second in her first Pac-12 Heptathlon Championship, Brooks-Johnson won three of the next four titles, missing 2016 due to a medical redshirt year. She joined WSU Hall of Famer Ellannee Richardson as one of only five women in Pac-12 history to claim three heptathlon titles. At the 2018 Pac-12 Championships, she recorded lifetime-best marks in five of the seven events in addition to her final tally of 5,977 points, which was second-best in program history. Brooks-Johnson also made her presence felt on the national stage, capturing All-America First-Team honors each of her final two seasons, finishing sixth in both 2017 and 2018. She also garnered All-American Honorable Mention honors in 2015 for both the heptathlon and 400m hurdles. Brooks-Johnson concluded her honor-filled Cougar career second all time in the heptathlon, fourth in the 400m hurdles, sixth in the 100m hurdles and eighth in the long jump. She also excelled in the classroom, with three Pac-12 Track and Field All-Academic honors and, fittingly, was a double major in apparel, merchandise, design and textiles, and sport management, because one wasn’t enough.