Athlete Spotlight: Queen Of the Mat

Braeleigh LaShawn Johnson is a senior at Watonga High School. Most people refer to her as Shawn. She’s a member of the wrestling team, and she also ran cross country and will be running track and field this spring. She enjoys drawing, cooking, and being active in her free time. She is also in the Heritage Club and she cheered during football season. She describes herself as “a lot” and she’s very unique. “You ain’t gonna find another me,” she said.

Wrestling is Shawn’s main sport. She tried to join while she was in middle school, however, her mom was reluctant to let her join. When the coach approached her during her sophomore year, she signed up without her mom’s permission and has done it ever since. “And now … she supports me a lot. She cheers me on and loves it,” Shawn said. She likes the challenge that wrestling presents to her all the time. “I like making boys cry, I like making girls cry,” she said with a laugh. The family aspect is also nice to Shawn. “If you do not love the sport, there’s no need, because you have to like wrestling to even be good at wrestling pretty much,” she said. The sport has taught her how to handle stuff life throws at her, and it’s taught her how to “read people” better. Coach Grant Williams has been a tremendous help to her in the sport. Even though he “gets on my nerves,” Shawn said, he has been really helpful in teaching her the sport. “He’ll watch film with me and stuff and be like, this is what you need to do.”

Shawn has recently secured her spot in the State Wrestling Tournament on the 25th. She’s made it all three years, and she’s ready to finish what she previously couldn’t in the past. “I’m gonna be on the podium,” she said.

She plans on being a sprinter during this track season, and even doing pole vault, although she’s never tried it before. “I’m pretty good at everything I set my mind to for the most part, and I’m a fast learner,” she said. She aims to help the entire team get another State ring. “I’m just gonna go into track having fun … Work hard and have fun.” She wants to get some first place medals, because she’s “always gotten third,” which irks something in her and pushes her to get some first placings.

She plans on going to college and continuing the sport of cheer in college. She already has some looks from colleges with the help of Mrs. Kim Coney and her daughter Taylor Coney. Even though this was her first year doing cheer, she enjoyed doing the hard stuff. “I don’t like being peppy. But I do like getting thrown in the air. I like doing the scary stuff,” she said. The people who have helped her the most in cheer are the Coneys, and they’ve even gone beyond cheer to help her with her goals and anything else she needs.

Shawn wants to get her Masters in Nursing and get a Minor in Physical Therapy. She likes the idea of being a traveling Registered Nurse or RN. She grew up around nursing in her family, with aunts and even her sister and her mom working at the same place as she does. Her mom Nia is one of her biggest supporters in life, even when Shawn went through hard times while she was young and had to grow up fast, she has a good relationship with her mom. “My mom has always been there for me,” she said, “I wouldn’t be the person that I am today without my mom at all. And I would not change anything about my life because it made me who I am today.”