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James Johnson, a Nashville, Tennessee native, will head to the Stevens Institute of Technology beginning this fall. Stevens is located in Hoboken, NJ. Johnson, a breastroker, attended Ensworth High School where he represented Ensworth Aquatics at the club level. Johnson only began swimming year-round during the summer after Covid, making 2020-2021 his first full season.
At the 2023 Southeast Holiday Classic, Johnson set PBs in 4 of his 6 events. He swam a 23.57 in his 50 free, 52.66 in his 100 free, and 1:01.79 in his 100 back, all of which were new bests. His final PB came from the 200 breast, where he swam a 2:12.00 in prelims before adding less than a second in finals (2:12.94) to place 3rd. Johnson additionally swam the 200 IM (2:04.08) for 9th and 100 breast (1:01.73) for 4th.
At the Tennessee State Championships just 2 months later, Johnson lowered his personal bests in the 100 breast and 200 IM. In the 100 breast, he swam a 1:00.05 to shave .04 off his old PB, and in the 200 IM, he swam a 2:02.57 to take just under a second off his previous best of 2:03.54. Johnson additionally contributed to Ensworth’s relays with splits of 22.35 in the 200 free relay and 26.82 swimming breaststroke in the 200 medley relay. With those swims, Johnson helped Ensworth to an 8th place finish out of 117 competing teams.
Most recently, Johnson swam at the Southeastern LC Championships, where he established PBs of 31.99 in the 50 breast and 1:09.07 in the 100 breast. He additionally swam a 2:36.16 in the 200 breast, marking a season best but off his PB of 2:32.23.
Best times:
- 100 breast – 1:00.00
- 200 breast – 2:12.00
- 200 IM – 2:02.57
Stevens Institute is a D3 program that competes in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). Headed by Coach Adam Schneider, Stevens won the conference championships in 2024 for a 5th consecutive title, extending their MAC title count to 12 total championships. With 1444.5 points and 19 podium appearances, Stevens dominated this year’s championships, winning by 327.5 points.
Johnson will look to continue Stevens Institue’s legacy, as at the 2024 MAC Championships, his 100 and 200 breast both would have qualified for the championship final while his 200 IM would have qualified for the consolation final. Johnson’s 100 and 200 breast would have ranked 4th and 5th, respectively, on Steven’s roster this year.
At Stevens, Johnson will pursue mechanical engineering with an aerospace concentration.
Johnson will join Ethan Emerton (back/IM), Andy Kolecki (free), Kerem Dogruer (free), Joe Sparshott (fly/back), and Andrew Gaba (fly/free), in Stevens’ freshman class this year.
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