Andrea Johansen will begin her fifth year as head coach of the Emery High swim team for the 2024-25 season. She has been coaching since Emery has had a team in 2011, but she had taken a four-year break in 2020.
“My coaching style is high love, high expectations. Our swimmers this year are meeting those expectations and working hard. They are constantly looking for ways to improve their times. They are attentive at practice and strive for excellence in and out of the pool. I could not be more pleased with the quality of athletes I am coaching this year,” Coach Johansen stated.
Her assistants this year will be Coach Natalie Olsen and Team Assistant Brooke Petersen. The team will have 42 swimmers on the roster, as most of them are returning from last year. The seniors this season are Preston Hulse, Parker Jensen, Adam Olsen and Jacob Erickson.
Asking about who captains will be this year, Coach Johansen responded, “We rotate through the seniors and juniors per meet because the upper class are phenomenal leaders. This gives the upper class an opportunity to take responsibility and develop a stronger team.”
She continued on her teams development, “This is a building year since we lost several seniors last year. We are starting from the ground up to develop good technique and endurance. It has been fun to see the progress thus far even though it’s the beginning of the season. We will just progress in speed and endurance as the season moves forward.”
“My goals and expectations this year are to have every swimmer progress in technique and strength. We have such a great atmosphere among our swimmers that I believe they will push each other to reach their goals in practice and at meets. Our swimmers are soaking up instruction during practice and are starting to understand how to get power out of their stroke. It has been fun to watch the progress. We have a long way to go but the progress is inspiring and motivating. Most swimmers have dropped significant time already from last year and I expect significant improvement with every meet. We have focused a lot individually on technique but also on improving our relay skills. We have winning relays with the boys and the girls and we expect to do well all the way through state with those.”
She ended with a message to the support she receives from members of the community, “Natalie Olsen has been instrumental in keeping this team moving forward and Brooke Petersen has been a major part of the success of this team. Coaching a successful team takes a lot of effort and time from everyone and Natalie and Brooke have been at the center of it all. The parents have all stepped up to volunteers and I cannot thank them enough. We have an amazing support system all around, from the school administration, the parents, coaches, assistants and the swimmers. Thank you everyone!”