MA track star Johnson signs D-I scholarship with Elon
Montgomery Academy track star Isabella Johnson signed a scholarship with Elon on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
When Isabella Johnson joined Montgomery Academy’s track and field team as a seventh grader in 2019, then-coach Michael Floyd entered her in the 200-meter dash, where she finished next to last.
“I think he put me in it to prove that I’m not meant to run,” she joked.
Soon after, Floyd’s love for field events and Johnson’s desire for excellence led her to excel in discus and shot put, earning her attention from fellow competitors and college recruiters.
“I joined the track team to run but Coach Floyd said she’s a volleyball player, I think she’d be good at the throwing events,” she said. “I started really liking it. I won a middle school meet in my second meet and thought maybe this is for me. I’ve just had a passion for it from the beginning.”
On Tuesday, her passion led the Montgomery Academy senior to a signing ceremony at the school, where she announced she would sign with Elon University, a Division I-A private school in North Carolina.
“I dreamed about this for a very long time,” she said, “and that’s really what pushed me. I don’t want this (track and field) to end my senior year, I want to keep doing this, so I’m really excited that Elon is a perfect fit both academically and athletically.”
Johnson competed in swimming, volleyball and track and field for the Eagles, leading each group in her own way.
“At the end of 2023, Webster’s Dictionary came out with words of the year,” volleyball coach Julie Gordon said. “One of the words was ‘authentic.’ I looked it up just to see what their meanings were, but the one that was special to me was ‘true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.’ Immediately, my thoughts went to Isabella because what she did for our volleyball team these last couple of years, her true self, created such a safe and wonderful team culture and environment.”
Johnson, the lone senior on the 2023 Eagles, led a blended group of juniors and freshmen to the Class 5A state championship.
“I gave it my 100 percent effort because I loved that team so much,” Johnson said. “We came through a lot and our bond was so strong after the way we were runner up (to Westminster Christian in 2021) and then had not made it to the finals in state (after losing to Arab in the 2022 semifinals). I knew that if we all put our full effort into volleyball, it was going to be great.”
But the Jimmy Hitchcock nominee, who carries a 4.7 grade-point average, is best known for her ability with shot put and discus, where she owns four individual state championships.
“Ultimately, the things that you control every single day is your energy, your attitude and your effort,” track and field coach Ethan McBride said. “I think Isabella Johnson has managed to do that every day that I’ve ever met her my entire life. What she brings to our program is just a constant, daily of how we attack it.
“She has had an impact on the community in this entire state. The female throwers throughout this entire state know who Isabella Johnson is. She’s been a leader for them, an outspoken person for them. Sometimes, I think y’all just see the Isabella Johnson that is a great thrower, a great academic, a great leader in this school but she really reaches beyond this school and beyond the River Region. She reaches the entire state and in some cases the entire Southeast and the entire nation.”
Competitive swimming is great and Johnson wouldn’t trade her days on the volleyball court for anything, but nothing beats her dedication to track and field, where Michael Floyd triggered her passion for excellence into a drive to become one of the nation’s best in shot put and discus.
“That’s what I love, it’s an individual sport and at the end of the day it is a competition against other girls but it’s really just a competition with myself,” she said. “You’re not competing against someone else, you’re competing with your own individual marks. Unlike volleyball, your marks show. You can actually tell if you’ve improved and that’s what I like about it.”