Johanna Goergen Turns Heads Toward the Finish Line

 runner Johanna Goergen has been dropping her times to lead the colts to their third conference championship win. Her personal records so far this season are 2:22 in the 800 meters and a 1:07.3 in intermediate hurdles. 

We caught up with Goergen for this week's Athlete Spotlight. Here's what she had to say:

 Q: How long have you lived in town?

 A: I’ve been in Kinnelon for seven years.

 Q: How long have you been running track?

 A: I started running my freshman year for winter track season. So this is my sixth season, not including cross country.

 Q: What is your favorite thing about the sport?

 A: My favorite thing about track is the balance between working as a team and as an individual. Relay meets have always been my favorite because it’s so much easier to better my own times when I have the motivation of running for my team. Track definitely doesn’t get enough credit for being a team sport.

 Q: What do you do when you are not on the track?

 A: Other than track, I’m always busy with school work and studying. Track is what I consider my free time and it’s usually the more fun part of my day.

 Q: Any special talents or hobbies?

 A: I’ve played violin for years and I played a season of soccer this year for fun but I was far from MVP, so I’ll call that a hobby.

 Q: How do you feel about your team this season?

 A: Our team has a lot of potential this season, especially with all the hard work of the underclassmen making up for our losses from last year. We just became conference champions for the third year in a row and this year it was a huge combined effort of throwers, sprinters, hurdlers, distance runners and jumpers. There’s a lot of diversity in the team’s talents this year. I definitely think sectionals and groups will be great for us all around. Usually there have been only a few outstanding athletes making it on to groups, but I can see a huge group of us making it this year.

 Q: What are your goals for the season?

 A: I hope to just continue getting PRs in the 800 and intermediates. I missed Meet of Champs by .1 seconds in the 800 last year so this year it’s my goal to finally get there. As a team, our goal is to hopefully win sectionals. It’s ambitious, but our depth makes it totally possible.

 SHOUT-OUTS

 “Johanna is one of the most versatile athletes that I have ever coached because she can jump, she can throw, she can hurdle and she can run. And she is grateful that there is a rule that she cannot be entered in more than four events because I would enter her in every event possible, because she is that athletic, that strong, that fast and that good.” – Head Coach Celeste Denman