Rome Reporter

Johns Creek High School boys’ swim team won its third consecutive Georgia High School Association (GHSA) 6A division swimming championship February 3. Additionally, they won the regional Fulton County Schools (FCS) swimming championships for the seventh consecutive year on January 5.

Head Coach Stephen Johnson, a fifth grade teacher at Creekview Elementary School, began coaching the Johns Creek boys’ team as an assistant coach in 2014 and took over as head coach in 2018.

“A lot of the [Johns Creek High] swimmers are in different clubs but it’s really special when you win together with your peers and classmates,” Johnson said. “You’re out there doing it for your school, pride in your school and being a good ambassador for your school.”

Johns Creek Principal Chris Shearer is proud of the team. “To three-peat in a competitive classification like 6A says a lot about the depth of the program and the hard work the athletes and coaches put into their season. I could not be prouder of them!”

Convincing a high schooler to get out of bed before 6 a.m. is a feat. But that early hour is just the start of a normal day for the Chattahoochee High School (CHS) Swim and Dive team.

“Some of them are practicing while we’re hitting snooze on our alarm clocks,” says CHS Athletic Director and Coach Chris Short.

The CHS Boys Swim and Dive Team just made school history, bringing home their first state championship in 27 years. They won the top title in the GHSA’s 4A-5A Swimming and Diving State Championship, held February 4 in Atlanta.

More than 50 students make up the team, with an elite group of eight swimmers winning the title. From October to January, four days a week, these student athletes are in the pool at Dynamo Swim Center in Johns Creek long before the first bell rings. Many of the students are also on swim club teams after school. CHS Swim and Dive Head Coach Ron Loula puts it simply, “They have a serious dedication to the sport, and it shows in their results.”

Coaches Loula and Short agree the discipline of these students translates to the classroom.

“Their drive in the pool is sort of like their drive in the classroom,” says Loula. “They tend to be driven, excellent students and many have gone on to become engineers or doctors or lawyers.”

CHS Principal Dr. Michael Todd says championships are something to celebrate.

“It is always exciting when there is a major accomplishment that takes place,” says Dr. Todd, “but bringing home a state championship is like no other.”

The win fuels student athletes in the other 25 sports offered at the school. “The pride is contagious,” says Coach Short. “Our student athletes want to achieve the same thing.”

These students, Dr. Todd says, are also building a legacy. “Student athletes and students engaged in other school-sponsored extracurriculars are more invested in the school and its vision,” he said.

Swim season is over, but the CHS Swim and Dive team already has its sights set on another championship run.

“The kids are already talking about next year,” says Coach Loula.

Congratulations to all our FCS champion swimmers!

Original source can be found here