BAR HARBOR, Maine — Leila Johnston wasn’t convinced she wanted to further her education and swimming career at Florida State University — until she visited the campus.
A recruiting trip to Tallahassee, Florida, in early September proved effective for FSU and attractive to Johnston, who recently signed a National Letter of Intent to accept a partial athletic scholarship from the NCAA Division I program beginning with the 2015-16 academic year.
“It was the first trip I went on,” said Johnston. “Before I went on that trip Florida State was not one of my choices, but there’s another girl there from Maine who’s a freshman right now who’s a swimmer and she encouraged me to look at Florida State, so I did.
“Honestly, I fell just in love with it. I felt like I was at home. I felt like I fit in well with the team. I really liked the coach’s philosophy and I’m thinking about majoring in psychology and they have a really good psychology program.”
Johnston, ranked as the state’s top schoolgirl swimmer by CollegeSwimming.com through her record-setting performances at Mount Desert Island High School as well as on the national scene through the MDI YMCA Sharks club program, made subsequent official visits to James Madison University and Arkansas but already was convinced where her collegiate future would lead.
“I kind of knew I wanted to go to Florida State when I went there, but my parents wanted me to go to the other schools just to make sure,” said the 17-year-old Johnston. “But after Arkansas I canceled my Virginia Tech trip and [verbally] committed.”
Johnston, who began her senior season of high school preseason practices Monday, has helped coach Tony DeMuro’s MDI girls squad win the last two Class B state championships.
As a sophomore in 2012 she won both the 50 and 100 freestyle events at the state meet while helping MDI finish second in both the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.
Last winter she did even better at states, winning both individual freestyle events, the 50 in 23.56 seconds and the 100 in 51.67, and also contributed to team championships in both relay events en route to being named swimmer of the meet.
Johnston went on place 18th in the 50 freestyle last April at the YMCA Short Course National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a time of 23.88 seconds, while representing coach Jim Willis’ MDI YMCA squad.
“I was seeded to do better but I was still happy I placed,” she said.
She then finished sixth in the 50 butterfly (28.51) and 22nd in the 50 backstroke (31.56) in August at the YMCA Long Course National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The 5-foot-10-inch Johnston said her top times already are competitive with times posted by current Florida State swimmers, but she anticipates those times will improve when she moves on to college and adds a lifting and dry-land training program to her regimen for the first time.
“I talked to [FSU head coach Frank] Bradley a lot about that,” she said. “Basically I’m a good athlete and a good swimmer but he recruited me because he thinks I have a lot of potential to do really well when I’m on a college team and that lifting will really help that.”
Johnston, the daughter of Ned Johnston and Anne Rhode of Bar Harbor, plans to leave for Florida State soon after she graduates from MDI next June to get a head start on her collegiate training.
“It’s mostly because I don’t really swim as much as a lot of the other recruits do because I’m from Maine,” she said. “I think it will be good for me to go and get adjusted before school starts so I won’t be overwhelmed.”
The Florida State swimming program is rebuilding under Bradley, a former Seminoles swimmer who returned to his alma mater last year after serving as an assistant coach at Auburn University in Alabama.
The Florida State women’s squad finished third at the Atlantic Coast Conference swimming championships last winter, set 16 of a possible 22 school records and qualified nine swimmers for the NCAA Division I championships.
Maine swimmers being recruited to Florida State is nothing new. Two former Pine Tree State standouts, Laura Flewelling of Scarborough and Colby Harvey of Cape Elizabeth, are on this year’s roster.
Harvey, a former swimmer at the Waynflete School in Portland and for the Coastal Maine Aquatics YMCA program, helped convince Johnston to consider the Seminoles’ swim program.
“If I went to James Madison I probably would have been the fastest swimmer on the team, where at Florida State I’ll be more toward the middle and it will be more of a challenge,” said Johnston. “At Florida State I know I won’t be the best swimmer on the team going in, but I think I’ll do well if I’m surrounded by girls that are faster than me and if I’m challenged to be one of the best.”
Johnston currently is swimming for both her high school and club teams. She practices five days a week after school for the MDI High School team, but also participates in two hourlong club practices a week before school as well as a two-hour club practice on Saturday mornings.
“This year I’m focusing on preparing myself for next year because I know it’s going to be a huge adjustment, especially swimming-wise,” she said. “But I want to have a really good last high school season and my goal is to be the best freestyler ever to come out of Maine.
“Basically I want to improve my times as much as I can and just have fun with it.”
