Gifted athlete plays at varsity level in three sports

By Christopher Drexel

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | midnight

In today's high school athletic landscape of more and more athletes concentrating on one sport year-round, Johnna Brown is a throwback.

The Centennial senior changes sports with each varsity season, playing volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and softball in the spring.

But Brown's lack of time spent with the Bulldogs volleyball team during the offseason does nothing to hurt her performance, coach Shannon Alia said.

"Johnna is a freak of nature," Alia said. "She is good at anything she applies herself at. All these other girls train all year long for volleyball. They play six months of club and Johnna just walks on the court and it comes naturally to her."

Brown is a four-year varsity performer in all three sports. She's an outside hitter in volleyball, a shooting guard in basketball and a shortstop in softball.

"I think not playing three sports would be boring," Brown said. "In the summer, I get really bored on weekends when I don't have a sport to play," Brown said.

Brown, one of the volleyball team's captains, leads a largely veteran team that began the season 12-2, including 8-0 in Northwest Division matches through Sept. 29.

The Bulldogs return five starters — Brown, outside hitter Danielle York, middle blockers Alexa Kubena and Hillary O'Shaughnessy and setter Morgan Vieira — from a team that finished 29-10 a year ago and was narrowly defeated in the state semifinals by eventual champion Silverado.

It was the second time in two seasons they were eliminated in the semifinals by the eventual champion, as Centennial finished 32-4 in 2006 before being eliminated in the playoffs by Reno's Damonte Ranch High.

"Losing to Silverado was a big hurt for all of us but this year it has made us more motivated to come back and win," York said. "I think it's our time to win. I really do believe our team is strong enough mentally and physically to win. We will do whatever it takes to win state."

Centennial should get a boost of momentum early in the playoffs as it hosts the Sunset Regional Tournament. The Bulldogs took second in region last season behind Durango.

"That will definitely help," Brown said. "We'll have a home crowd behind us. We'll see who's strong mentally and who can take it."

Christopher Drexel can be reached at 990-8929 or [email protected].