Scotland’s Taylor Johnson, center, launches herself into the pool during an event at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 3A State Championship, held Wednesday and Thursday at the Triangle Aquatic Center.
Contributed photo | Susan Johnson
Scotland swimming coach Aliechia Post, left, and Taylor Johnson, right, pose for a picture after Johnson received the 2022-23 Sandhills Athletic Conference Women’s Swimmer of the Year award during a Jan. 15 practice.
File photo
CARY — Taylor Johnson is only a sophomore — and she’s already put together a stacked resume to become one of the best athletes at Scotland.
The Scotland women’s swimmer competed in multiple events at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 3A State Championship for the second consecutive year on Wednesday and Thursday at the Triangle Aquatic Center.
Johnson finished in 12th place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of two minutes and 6.84 seconds and came in 14th in the 500 freestyle with a new personal best of 5:39.07.
“It’s always fun going to states and seeing all of the amazing swimmers of North Carolina,” Johnson said.
Johnson had to go through preliminaries in the 200 freestyle; she advanced to the finals by finishing 12th in 2:06.14 — another new individual record for her.
“It was also nice to set two PRs (personal records) in a day,” Johnson said.
In the 500 freestyle, Johnson had been aiming for a new career finish all season, according to Scotland coach Aliechia Post.
“She has been working towards a goal of getting a 5:40 in her (500-yard freestyle) all season,” Post said. “It’s been elusive for her, so it was really awesome to watch her not only meet that goal but surpass it. Taylor is going to be one to watch over the next couple of years.”
Johnson’s counter for the 500 freestyle was Scotland men’s swimmer Jack Herr, who tagged along with Post to support Johnson.
“It’s always fun being at state championships and watching some amazing races,” Herr said. “It was great to watch Taylor swim and see how much she’s improved over the course of this season.”
Johnson also swam the 500 freestyle at states in 2023 and improved her time by nearly 20 seconds; she finished in 5:59.95 last year for 20th place.
While Johnson was the only swimmer from Scotland to make it to states, she helped Scotland claim 35th place out of 63 teams with the eight points she gained, with five coming from the 200 freestyle finals and three from the 500 freestyle.
New state-record times were set in several events at the championship meet.
Durham School of the Arts’ Lucca Battaglini set a new record time of 42.60 in the men’s 100 freestyle and another at 47.30 in the 100 backstroke. In the women’s 100 freestyle, Orange’s Katie Belle Sikes broke the record time she set last year with a time of 48.76.
“It was really cool to be on deck and basically have a front-row seat to watch the state record be broken in both the men’s and women’s 100 freestyle,” Post said. “I think it’s really inspiring for the kids who are at that meet swimming at that level of competition to know that they might be able to do that too.”
Brandon Hodge is the sports editor for The Laurinburg Exchange. He can be reached at 910-506-3171 or by email at bhodge@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BrandonHSports.