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Dixie Heights three-sport athlete Johnson striving to meet one more goal before graduation


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Graduation is just nine days away, but Dixie Heights senior Branden Johnson has more than that on his mind right now. This weekend, he’ll be trying to add to his impressive list of accomplishments as a high school athlete when he competes in the shot put and discus events at the Class 3A state track and field meet at the University of Kentucky.

Johnson, 17, of Edgewood, is a two-time state wrestling champion and award-winning football player, but his competitive fires are still burning. He said Dixie Heights has never had a state champion in boys’ shot put or discus and that’s his final goal before he graduates.

“I already have the (school) record for shot put here, but it’s still not good enough for me,” he said. “I want to do even better than that.”

Braden Johnson  will compete in the shot put and discus events at the Class 3A state track and field meet at the University of Kentucky this weekend (Terry Boehmker Photo)

Branden Johnson will compete in the shot put and discus events at the Class 3A state track and field meet at the University of Kentucky this weekend (Terry Boehmker Photo)

In the local Class 3A regional meet last week, Johnson won the shot put for the second consecutive year and picked up his first gold medal in the discus. His winning marks were 51 feet, 11.5 inches in the shot put and 135 feet, 10 inches in the discus. Based on results from regional qualifying meets around the state, he’s seeded No. 4 in shot put and No. 6 in discus for this weekend’s Class 3A state championship competition.

“Shot put is his better event,” said Dixie Heights track coach Steve Saunders. “I really didn’t expect Branden to win region in the discus, but he’s always capable of making a nice throw. Every time we practice he’s here working hard. When he has a good throw he’s excited and when he has a bad throw he tries to figure out what he did wrong and correct it. He’s very competitive, just like he is in wrestling and football.”

Johnson became his school’s first state champion in wrestling when he won the 285-pound weight class as a junior. He took the title again this year and finished with a 17-0 record.

In football, Johnson was a two-way starter on the offensive and defensive front lines for the Dixie Heights team that was Class 6A state runner-up last season. He was named Northern Kentucky’s Defensive Lineman of the Year by the Anthony Munoz Foundation and nominated for the That’s My Boy Award that recognizes  top student-athletes in local high school football each year.

Johnson has a 3.8 grade-point average and ranks among the top 20 percent in his senior class. He accepted a football scholarship from Austin Peay University in Tennessee and plans to major in mechanical engineering.

Football has always been Johnson’s favorite sport. He joined the wrestling and track teams after he enrolled at Dixie Heights to make his mom happy.

“She just wanted me to do every sport that I possibly could and be involved as much as I could at school, so that’s why I ended up doing all three sports all four years,” Johnson said.

During his first three years on the track team, Johnson worked with former Dixie Heights assistant coach Mike Wiesemann to develop the skills and technique he needed to become a state contender in shot put and discus. Wiesemann is now coaching at Northern Kentucky University, but Johnson continued to improve by working on his own. He often studies techniques used by other athletes on YouTube videos that he finds online.

Johnson set the school record in the shot put with a measure of 55 feet, 6 inches during an invitational meet earlier this season. He said he surpassed that mark  in last year’s state meet, but he fouled on the attempt and it wasn’t registered. At last week’s regional meet, he said he launched a shot put 59 feet, 5 inches, but that also was negated on a foul called by an official.

“After you make the throw, there’s two white lines on the side of the ring and you have to exit behind those,” Johnson said. “The (official) said I wasn’t in control when I stepped out out so it didn’t count.”

The Dixie Heights senior is going to be much more careful during state meet competition this weekend. Winning a medal in the shot put or discus would be a great way to close out his remarkable high school career as a three-sport athlete.

“He would love to win the shot put, and he’s certainly got a chance,” coach Saunders said. “If he pops one down there (at the state meet), he could certainly win it. It’s just a matter of who’s on that day when it comes to the shot put. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Johnson isn’t putting an added pressure on himself going into the state meet, even though he knows it’s his last shot at success as a high school athlete.

“It’s been a while since Dixie has won state in a track and field event so I’d prefer to win,” he said. “But it’s not really that insane if I don’t win. I’ve still had a pretty good senior year.”


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