Johnson sisters competing for State Championship

HUNTLEY — Alex Johnson, senior track and field athlete at Huntley High School, is a three-time state champion and was awarded the 2022 Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (ITCCA) Girls Field Athlete of the Year. As a sophomore, Alex was the 3A women’s state champion in long jump. In her junior year, she won the long jump state championship again, in addition to the triple jump state championship, with a jump of 12.33m. Who was runner up? Dominique Johnson, her sophomore sister who at the time was a freshman, with a state jump of 12.17m.

“Heading into this season, I was most proud of the fact that I had already jumped such great distances as someone so young,” Dominique said. “I thought that if I’m doing amazing things as a freshman when it comes to my senior year I will be accomplishing unthinkable things.”

Both of the Johnson sisters trained rigorously and improved throughout the off season. Alex and Dominique have both set personal records already this year.

“I haven’t hit some of my loftier goals, but I became the second person to ever jump 20 feet indoors this winter, so I have some accomplishments to be proud of,” Alex said. “Our team has been growing and performing well, so I feel like we are in a good position coming to the end of the season.”

Dominique hit a sub-60-second 400m on the indoor track which has been her goal since the start of high school. Alex and Dominique believe that they both push each other to work harder and become the best athletes they can be.

“My sister definitely pushes me to be a better athlete because of how close we are talent-wise,” Dominique said. “She’s a competitor that I strive to beat, yet we help each other improve at the same time.”

“We have trained together our entire lives, so I feel like I know her strengths and weaknesses like I know my own,” Alex said. “Since we are such different athletes we almost never have the same problems so we can always use and watch each other to learn and grow.”

Both sisters have the same goal in mind to finish out the season: Win the state championship in long jump. Alex is looking to keep her state championships in long and triple jump; however, her sister will not make it easy as she is training for the same trophy.

“For the rest of the season, I would like to jump 41 feet in triple jump and win the state champion title in that event too,” Dominique said.

Although only one of the sisters will be able to hold up the long jump state championship trophy, they are both looking to lead their teammates to the team state championship title this spring. The girls state championship meet will take place May 18-20 at Eastern Illinois University.