Alabama State Champion in the 100 fly, Bradford Johnson will head south a few hours to compete for the Auburn Tigers this NCAA season. Archive photo via 0Shanna Lockwood/AU Athletics
At this past winter’s Alabama High School State Championships, which coincidentally was held at Auburn’s James E. Martin Aquatics Center, Johnson opted to swim one individual event and be apart of three relays. Individually, he swam 47.66 in the prelims of the 100 Fly, his first PB in the event since 2021 and then lowered it to win the event in 47.51, his third title in a row and setting a new state record.
Johnson wasn’t done with standing atop the podium, however, as he shared the spot with his Huntsville High School teammates in the 200 Medley, swimming the fly leg in 21.42. He also climbed to the top in the 200 Free, leading off in 21.32 (he was 21.19 in prelims) and did the same in the 4oo free relay, recording a PB of 45.70 as his team set new records in each event. As a squad, Huntsville won the meet (6A-7A) for the 8th year in a row.
Less than a week later, Johnson, swimming for the Huntsville Swim Association, made the finals of the 100 fly at the Winter Junior Championships—East. He finished 11th in the prelims (47.98) and ultimately 16th in the finals (48.61). This calendar year, Johnson made two finals at the NCSA Spring Championships, finishing 10th in the 100 lcm fly (55.03) and 10th in the 50 lcm fly (24.83).
Best Yards Times
- 50 Free – 21.19
- 100 Free – 45.70
- 100 Fly – 47.51
- 200 Fly – 1:48.46
Johnson joins a resurgent Auburn program under head coach Ryan Wochomurka. Under his leadership, the Tigers have had back-to-back top-12 finishes at NCAAs after failing to score any points in 2021. This past NCAAs, the Tigers were led by Mason Mathias, who finished 8th in the 500 (4:14.00) and 10th in 1650 (14:43.69), as well as having the 200 Free Relay finish 6th overall in 1:15.05.
A month prior, at the SECs, Auburn, the hosts, finished second behind Florida with 1104 points, their highest point total under Wochomurka. In the 100 Fly, Auburn placed two swimmers into the A-Final, with Sohib Khaled, a sophomore, finishing 5th in 45.41 and Nate Stoffle, a junior, finishing 7th in 45.98.
While his times now are unlikely to final in an individual event at the conference level, his 100-fly personal best of 47.51 would have placed just 34th in the prelims; he is not too far off. It took a 47.06 to make the C-Final (incidentally, by then Auburn senior Rusty Jerger). In the 200 Fly, it took a 1:45.84 to make the C-Final, so that too could be in range if Johnson trains more for the longer of the two fly events.
With Johnson having set new personal bests in the 100 fly and 100 free after over a 12-month gap, he could continue to build upon his newfound success in a new training environment. Both Khaled and Nate Stoffle return as does Jerger, who appears on the roster as a grad student, so Johnson has a strong foundation to train with.
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