Well-rounded Johonnot sets high standard for Centennial track

The author of that phrase never met Centennial junior Karli Johonnot, one of the top all-around female high school track athletes in the country.

She currently holds Southern Nevada’s top marks in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, as well as the high jump, according to NevadaTrack.org. She also ranks fourth in the long jump.

Johonnot is a heptathlete, often training for and competing in as many as eight events: the 100 and 300 hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin and the 200- and 800-meter runs.

She owns the No. 2 high jump mark in the country (5 feet, 8 inches) and the No. 12 time in the 300 hurdles (44.39), said Ryan Theriault, Johonnot’s throws coach.

“As of now, she is one of the top-three high school heptathletes in the country, and on any given day, could easily be No. 1 — as a junior,” Theriault added. “From a pure athletic standpoint and raw talent, she is leaps and bounds above what Sheila Tarr was in high school.”

Comparisons to Tarr don’t come lightly. Tarr graduated from Bonanza before moving on to UNLV and winning the NCAA heptathlon title in 1984 as a freshman. She was an alternate for the heptathlon at the 1984 Olympics and finished second at the NCAA Championships the following year.

After graduating from UNLV, she became a firefighter in Las Vegas. Tarr died in 1998 at age 34 from a rare neurological disorder.

The track facility at UNLV carries her name, along with Sheila R. Tarr Elementary School in Las Vegas.

Coincidentally, one of Tarr’s coaches at Bonanza was Sam Germany, who now coaches Johonnot at Centennial.

Germany gets excited just talking about them.

“I never thought I would be working with talent like that again,” Germany said. “Sheila has the better upper-body strength; Karli has better leg speed. Both of them are extremely intelligent.

“You explain something to them and both of them process it very, very well. Both athletes don’t like being unprepared for an event. The similarities are just incredible.”

Theriault, who also was an outstanding multi-event track athlete at Bonanza and Cheyenne in the early 1990s and went on to Texas A&M as a decathlete, thinks Johonnot can accomplish great things.

“If she continues on pace, she can be part of a great track and field program in college,” Theriault said. “Let’s put it this way: I have made plans to be in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 (for the Summer Olympics).”

Colleges have come courting, although Johonnot cannot sign until her senior year.

“I have already gone to some beautiful schools through camps,” Johonnot said, “and am excited to start looking for colleges to attend. I am very open-minded to all schools.”

Johonnot started attracting serious attention when she competed in her first heptathlon last June at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic in New Mexico, where she finished sixth overall.

“After my freshman year, my coaches recommended I try the heptathlon,” Johonnot said. “I decided during my sophomore year that I would try the hep.”

Johonnot qualified for state in the 300 hurdles, high jump and pole vault as a sophomore.

In July, She competed at the USATF Junior Olympics, where she finished a close second in her age group, improving significantly in her overall score from 4,228 at the Great Southwest meet to 4,574. Her coaches believe that a score of 5,000 is possible for Johonnot this year.

Johonnot’s best events are the high jump and 800. At the Junior Olympics, she won both events with a jump of 5-8 and a time of 2:21, respectively. She has not competed in the 800 on the track this spring, but if she did she would likely be among the leaders.

Johonnot finished eighth at state in the pole vault last year with a vault of 10-0. Her younger sister, Centennial freshman Madison

Johonnot, has taken up the pole vault and recently finished third at the Las Vegas Track Classic with a mark of 9-0. Madison also competes in the high jump and various running events for the Bulldogs.

Their aunt, Connie Johonnot, was a standout cross country and track athlete at Bonanza in the mid-1980s. Connie Johonnot still holds the school record for the 1,600 (5:20), set when she was a senior in 1986.

“My sister is lucky because she has someone to assist her and show her how to react out on the field,” Karli Johonnot said.

Competing and training for so many events has proved a challenge for the elder Johonnot.

“The tough part of a meet is trying to juggle all the different events because they all seem to start at the same time,” Karli Johonnot said. “All I do is to try to relax as I go from event to event and try to refocus and concentrate on my current event.

“I feel it is rewarding, but it can be frustrating, especially when the high jump, pole vault and 100 meter hurdles all start at the same time.”

Karli Johonnot said she trains three to four hours a day Monday through Saturday, as well as working with weights, medicine balls and vaulting twice a week. She also used to be a cheerleader and has been a dancer since she was 3, which she still does in the little spare time she has.

“I love to dance, and it would probably be another passion of mine beside track,” she said.

But for the remainder of the high school track season, Karli Johonnot has put the heptathlon on hold. She recently was voted Female Track Athlete of the Meet at the Las Vegas Track Classic after winning both hurdle events and the high jump.

This weekend, she entered five events at the  prestigious Arcadia Invitational in California, though Germany said she will be scratched out of the pole vault, as athletes can only compete in four.

Although Centennial’s coaches haven’t decided in which events to enter Johonnot through May’s postseason, she seems a lock to compete in both hurdle events and the high jump.

And that might help Johonnot master a trade, after all.