One of Bowdoin’s finest all-around athletes, Emily LeVan
’95 mastered three vastly different disciplines, blazing a
trail of brilliance on and off the track and fields of play.
A native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, LeVan graduated from the
Casady School as a three-sport athlete in field hockey, soccer, and
track. She was an immediate contributor to the Bowdoin track
program, setting still-standing marks on the 400- and 800-meter
relay squads while setting individual records in the 200- and
400-meter races. Her efforts helped pace the Polar Bears to their
first-ever NESCAC Championship in track and field in 1992.
In field hockey, LeVan established herself as one of the top
performers in school history, launching the transition of a
regionally recognized program into one that would eventually become
a national champion. The team’s second-leading scorer as a
first-year and sophomore, she keyed the team’s jump from a
7-5-1 record in 1991 to a 12-4 mark and ECAC Semifinal berth just a
year later.
As a junior in 1993, LeVan paced the Polar Bears with a seven-goal,
seven-assist season and led the squad to the ECAC Semifinals for
the second-consecutive season. She was tabbed as the Maine State
Player of the Year and captured Second-Team All-New England and
All-State honors in the process.
In 1994, LeVan captained the first Bowdoin team to reach the ECAC
Championship game, as the Polar Bears won a school-record thirteen
games. LeVan’s ten goals were a team high as she netted
Second-Team All-American, First-Team All-New England, and Maine
Player of the Year recognition. LeVan can still be found in the
Bowdoin record books, ranking among the top ten performers in
school history in goals, assists, and points.
After graduation, LeVan became a world-class marathoner and
competed in several events around the globe. She was the top
American finisher among women in the Boston Marathon in 2005 and
ran a personal best of 2:38:22 at the IAAF World Championships in
Helsinki, Finland, later that summer. The next year, she bettered
that and posted a time of 2:37:01 in Boston, as the top American
woman finisher again.
Emily and her husband, Brad Johnson, Class of 1996, now live in
Randolph Center, Vermont, with their daughter, Maddie, whose battle
with leukemia drove Emily to establish Two Trials, a fundraiser to
raise money for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. LeVan
works as a nurse in Randolph and continues to run competitively.
