Swimming/Diving
Favorite athlete: Chase Utley
Favorite team: The Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning Districts diving my junior year and helping our team to a second place finish in the district.
Music on iPod: A mix of everything, but mostly country and pop.
Future plans: To study Kinesiology at the University of Virginia, where I will also be diving.
One goal before turning 30: Travel to Tahiti
By Mary Jane Souder
Corey Johnson is a unique and special athlete.
An elite diver who is the defending District One AAA champion, the Upper Dublin senior could just as easily be an elite swimmer. Last year, Johnson qualified for districts in the 50 freestyle, a commendable feat for any swimmer but downright remarkable for a diver.
“Corey is truly one of the most versatile athletes I’ve seen in my years of coaching,” Upper Dublin coach Pat Redican said. “There’s no doubt about it. She’s got wonderful athleticism. Her ability to leap and her kinesthetic sense helps her both on the board and when she’s coming off the starting block.
“We’ve had swimmers who’ve been divers and divers who’ve been swimmers, but I’ve never seen anybody that really could do both. The only thing the two sports have in common is that they both end of up in the water. They’re two totally different things.”
Two totally different things that Johnson happens to enjoy, although it does create a schedule most would find daunting.
A typical week for Johnson goes something like this – she practices with her Upper Dublin team at 5:30 a.m. five days a week and then immediately heads off to school. After school, it’s diving practice with her high school team.
“Then I go down to La Salle five days a week to practice with my US team,” said Johnson, who dives for Centennial Aquatic Club.
Wednesdays and Saturdays are ‘slow’ days for Johnson, who doesn’t travel to La Salle on Wednesdays and only practices with her Centennial team at La Salle on Saturdays.
“I’m in every meet now swimming and diving, and it’s a struggle,” Johnson said. “It’s difficult to balance all of that, but I’m happy to do both.”
Redican is happy she does as well.
“When she talked to me about swimming last year, it wasn’t like we were desperate to have her, but once we had her, it was such a bonus,” he said. “There are some meets where I actually talk to (diving coach) Todd Michael and say, ‘Hey, if you don’t need her diving, we could use her as a fourth for a swimming event.’ That’s rare, but it happens.”
The fact that she is in demand is a tribute to Johnson’s versatility. Upper Dublin isn’t short on swimmers. The program is a perennial district power, but Johnson can swim with the best.
“Mostly we try and keep her in the sprints,” Redican said. “She swims the butterfly in our medley. I’ve got some pretty good fliers, and she’s my second best 50 flier right now. She’s the fourth in our 200 free relay. We have some really nice freestylers, and she’s beating them.
“She’s able to handle the coaching with both. I watch her work with Todd, and she gets all the subtleties. I’ll mention two or three things to her in the little bit of time we have practicing, and she can translate it.
“Her athleticism and her ability to be aware of where she is in the water, in the air or on the board is phenomenal. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t work because she does. She doesn’t rest on her laurels.”
While Johnson excels in the pool, she is most at home on the diving board, and she will be taking her talents to the University of Virginia.
“She practices quite a bit on both ends of the spectrum because she’s swimming also,” Upper Dublin diving coach Todd Michael said. “That’s why Pat is going crazy because she could be just as good of a swimmer as she is a diver if she put her whole attention to it.
“She’s just a well-rounded athlete. I think any kind of sport you’d put in front of her she’d be pretty good at it.”
In addition to possessing a tremendous work ethic, Johnson is technically sound.
“She has long, beautiful lines,” Michael said. “She jumps pretty well, and her form is just really good, and that comes from years of practice.”
Johnson has been diving since she was six years old, competing for both UDAC and Fort Washington Swim Club.
“My brother was a diver,” she said of her older brother Drew. “I saw him up on the board, and I just thought, ‘I want to try that.’ I got up there one day, and it kind of stuck with me. I’ve been doing it ever since.”
It was around middle school that Johnson – who played soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and even competed in gymnastics briefly – dropped her other sports and focused solely on diving.
Her first trip to states as a freshman came as a bit of a shock.
“I went to districts not really knowing much about states, but I think that’s the best way to go into it – not really expecting too much and trying to do your best,” Johnson said.
Although she has a district title under her belt, Johnson admits there is pressure that goes hand-in-hand with her sport.
“I have this thing where I stay underwater when my scores are being announced because that is something that gets to me,” she said. “I know it shouldn’t. I know I should try and block it out.
“No matter how good or not so good the dive is – I just like to put the scores away and just try not to hear about them or think about them because I know it will distract me from my upcoming dives.”
Johnson, according to Redican, is blessed with an even temperament.
“I’ve never had the temperament to be a diver because as soon as I had a bad dive I’d be a mess,” he said. “She shrugs it off like it’s nothing, and she’s just up there thinking about her next dive.”
The defending league and district champion, Johnson finished eighth at the state meet last year, good enough for a medal.
“I was hoping for something better, but I was proud to finish in the top eight,” said Johnson, who finished fourth at states as a sophomore. “That’s an incredible accomplishment, but coming off that district run, I was hoping for something more.
“From what I remember, I dove pretty well that day. I don’t think there’s anything I would have changed.”
Perhaps not, but Johnson will undoubtedly use her eighth place finish as motivation for the upcoming postseason.
“She didn’t come out of there complaining,” Redican said. “I know she’s a competitor. I think she’d like to win districts again this year, but I’m very sure her eyes are firmly on states this year.
Johnson, voted a captain, has been a key force in bringing this year’s team together.
“Primarily the kids know her as a diver, but she’s a kid that crosses over the line and made something happen with the kids,” Redican said. “She’s very humble – she never talks about herself.
“She’s helped blend the teams because divers and swimmers don’t always come together. One of her goals was to try and get us more in tune. One of the things she’s done – we have two mornings a week where we do cross fit, so the divers are all coming to cross fit. That’s primarily Corey.”
Despite her rigorous schedule, Johnson also excels in the classroom.
“I strive to be an A student,” she said. “I try not to procrastinate. I have some study halls during school that I have to get my work done.”
An honors student, she is a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Government Association.
“Luckily those two run during the school day, so we’ll have meetings during the school day,” she said. “There are projects that come with the National Honor Society, but I did that during the summer. I’ve learned to balance my time wisely.”
Next year, Johnson plans to major in kinesiology with her sights set on moving on to a physician’s assistant program.
“I did a lot of PT when I was younger, and I’ve always been interested in the body and medical field,” Johnson said. “I took an anatomy class and sports medicine class, and they kind of clicked with me.”
In much the same way things clicked when Johnson first stepped onto a diving board.
