SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of May 25, 2021
When Audrey Johnson tried soccer at the tender age of 5, her career was over before she was six. Next up, tennis. More of the same. “I tried tennis for like half a year, but I hated it,” she recalled. Johnson was fine with her life as a non-athlete until middle school, at which point she learned that she could run and jump a little bit better than her schoolmates. Still, it was no big deal. “I did track just to have something to do,” Johnson said. “I guess I was one of the better ones, so I figured that I found something athletic that I could do. I never saw myself even doing a sport, necessarily. It wasn’t a priority at all. It was just something that I did.” Here she is, with an appearance in the PIAA State Meet in the 4x4 relay and graduation from CB South around the corner. She has to pinch herself.
Johnson’s resume includes qualifying for districts in six different events –100m, 200m, Long Jump, Triple Jump, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay -- and the ultimate student-athlete will be wearing the same title heading southbound to Emory University in Atlanta. “I was not good at track when I first started,” she reflected. “I really wanted to be good, and I am where I wanted to be in ninth grade, but, yet, it’s so weird. It sounded so ridiculous coming out of my mouth when I was in ninth grade, but I did it. I think it shows that if you want something bad enough, you have to go out there and make it happen.”
Johnson traces her desire to break away from the pack to her freshman year at CB South. “I did winter and spring track in ninth grade, plus I did preseason lifting (in the fall),” she said. “That entire year made me want to be better at it and just try to get good.” From there, the progression continued. While track is an individual sport, she sacrificed for the good of team by taking part in the relays in lieu of individual events. “I had a talk with my coach, and it really opened my eyes,” she said. “I’ve been with these girls for so long. I’ll get to run so many more 100s and do long jump in college. I’ll never get to run with these girls again, so this is the time to do it.” Johnson’s success, according to coach Jason Gable, is the direct result of her dedication and hard work. “Audrey has been an integral part of both of those relays competing at districts, even sacrificing her own individual events to help get the relay teams to continue on,” he said. “Only a few athletes can ever say they qualified for the District One Championships in six events. All of her hard work and dedication to track and field throughout her years provides the team and younger athletes with a prime example of what patience and focus and drive can get you in the end.”
As hard as it is to conceive, Johnson’s magical senior season almost didn’t happen. Having suffered through injuries to her knee and upper quad, and thinking that losing her junior season when COVID shut it all down meant that her chances to run in college were lost, she gave thought to not crossing the finish line. “During the pandemic, I almost gave up on track,” she said. “It just, like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ We didn’t have a season. Gyms were closed. I didn’t have a weight rack in my house. I didn’t really see a possibility of even doing track in college. That was a really hard time. I thought I really needed that junior season to get times to run for college. Then, everything shut down. I totally shut down, too. I took a total break from the sport. Back in September, when we started doing (cross country) preseason. I knew I couldn’t give it up.” So she began looking into track programs at schools that met her academic standards. “The time off made me realize four years wasn’t enough in high school,” Johnson said.
What Emory will be getting in Johnson is the epitome of a serious student-athlete. Said Gable: “What can I say about Audrey? She’s probably one of the most dedicated and hardest working student-athletes we’ve ever had come through our program. She’s an Honors student and summa cum laude graduate. Her high achievements in athletics is easily matched by her academics. As a student, she is respected by all the faculty and is a very respectful and appreciative young lady.”
To read Johnson’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/audrey-johnson-0095119
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of May 25, 2021
Mike Carr made an unusual decision this winter. After two years away from basketball, the William Tennent senior – whose focus had turned to volleyball - tried out for the basketball team. It’s not exactly a formula for success, but Carr wasn’t worried about playing time. “He’s an athlete, he can jump, and we were looking at him as the tryouts were going on,” Tennent basketball coach Robert Mulville said. “We had all these seniors coming back, so we knew it was going to be difficult for him to break into any kind of playing time, but he was athletic, and he was a nice kid. We told him at the beginning – ‘We’d like to keep you, but this is going to be your role. If you’re not happy with it, we understand.’ He immediately was like, ‘Nope, I’m fine with that. I understand what it is I’ve got to do. I just want to be a part of the team,’ and that’s just the way he was.”
Carr’s isn’t a story of a player who worked his way into the starting lineup and became a major contributor on the court. Rather, his is a story of a player who understood his role, accepted it and made himself an invaluable asset to the team. “I went in knowing I wasn’t going to have a main role, but I knew I could make other people better, so I went into it thinking – ‘Hey, I dive all the time in volleyball. Why not dive in basketball and hustle nonstop?’” Carr said. “I understood that I wasn’t going to get much playing time, and I told him that right away, but I still wanted to be on the team, I wanted to be a part of it. I also knew I’d be in shape for volleyball when that season would come.” It turned out to be a win-win for both sides. “He was great all season,” Mulville said. “Sometimes you take a senior and it doesn’t work out. It can be a problem, but we just felt confident. When he did get in a game, he wasn’t afraid to take the ball to the rim. He was tough to practice against. Besides being positive and active on the bench, it was good competition for us to go up against him on a daily basis.”
When Carr’s final volleyball season rolled around this spring, he was ready. A captain of the young squad that returned just two players with varsity experience after last year’s season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his leadership was invaluable. “He was fantastic with our kids when we were doing virtual meetings,” Tennent coach Jim Creighton said. “And even conversations when we were in quarantine in the summer and in the fall, he really kind of spearheaded it, helping the kids out and laying out our goals for the year. He was good at communicating with the kids that were younger because we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores. He was really good relaying what to expect – how to plan for games, how to deal with our coaching staff. He was really invaluable and a huge asset, especially to our younger players.” Carr was the Panthers’ go-to hitter and led the team in kills. He was second in blocks, second in aces and one of the team’s primary point scorers. “He’s going to be hard to replace for next year- he did really well,” said Creighton of Carr, who was the team MVP and earned first team all-league honors.
In many ways, Carr’s success this spring was directly tied to his idea to try out for basketball. “I think playing sports you have your role, and I knew exactly what my role was when I joined the team,” Carr said. “Coach said, ‘You do things others don’t,’ and I knew if I kept doing those things, I’d make people better. Volleyball is a hustle sport. At (basketball) practice, most people don’t hustle like that, so I’ll show them what that looks like in a game.” Carr’s future on the volleyball court will include outdoor and beach volleyball. Instead of attending college in the fall, Carr will be pursuing a trade. “I’m looking to pursue something that is hands on, so right now I’m looking into HVAC and an electrician as maybe a backup,” said Carr, who will be taking his HVAC test on June 9. “My plan is to eventually have my own company. I know that’s going to take a lot of time, but that’s my goal.”
To read Carr’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/michael-carr-0095120
- Log in to post comments
