Greenfield-Central’s Mary Ellen Stratman , left, and Norah Johnson have been named the 2021-22 Daily Reporter Girls Swimming and Diving Athletes of the Year. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
GREENFIELD — There are traditions, and then there are expectations.
Whenever Greenfield-Central junior Norah Johnson enters the Cougars’ natatorium for practice, the record-setting girls swimmer knows the plan is to work toward both, and she’s never alone.
While different in their own way, Johnson and G-C junior teammate Mary Ellen Stratman are mirror images when pertaining to work ethic. Johnson, a self-described perfectionist, thrives within structure and lives to set goals. Stratman, a natural leader by example, always has her goals on the forefront of her mind.
Where one swims, the other isn’t too far behind or ahead, depending on the particular technique, and both have helped the defending sectional champion Cougars rewrite history in multiple events the past three years.
Winning and achieving is their shared tradition, as is seeing one another around the pool, a trend that began from the first grade when the duo initially dove into swimming.
“We’ve been together since pre-kindergarten. We’ve really known each other for a long time,” Johnson said. “We both got really competitive with it in fifth grade. That’s when we really started taking it seriously. We knew than, we could do something with this. It seemed to work out so far.”
Johnson recalls meeting Stratman while a grade-schooler at St. Michael’s School in Greenfield, but once both joined the Greenfield Community Aquatic Team and were introduced to future high school coaches Emily and Mark Logan, their trajectory picked up.
As three-time IHSAA state qualifiers, Johnson and Stratman continue to move forward stroke for stroke, and the tandem, once again, remain connected as the 2021-22 Daily Reporter Co-Girls Swimming Athletes of the Year.
“We really like to work together, and I think we work really well together because we’re very goal-orientated and we have similar values in our training. We both take it seriously. We both like to work towards our goals, and we really help push each other towards those goals in practices,” Johnson said. “We are often in the same lane. We’re dry land partners. It’s just nice having someone there with you that has those same values and will never let you have an easy day.”
As freshmen, Johnson and Stratman made the transition from middle school and junior high swimming to the prep level look simple.
Both made an immediate impact as part of the Cougars’ record-setting, 200-yard medley relay team.
Stratman qualified for state in the 200 individual medley that same year, while Johnson competed individually in the 100 breaststroke.
The lessons learned early led to a highly-decorated career to date for the twosome, including a pair of Hoosier Heritage Conference team titles (2019-20 and 2021-22).
As team leaders this past season, Johnson and Stratman played key roles in maintaining the Cougars’ team sectional championship dominance, which has spanned nine straight years.
“I definitely wanted to add to the tradition. In middle school, I’d practice with the high school sometimes and just seeing all of them and how competitive they were in reaching their goals was really cool,” Stratman said. “I always wanted to be a part of that. It’s a really cool experience being on such a winning team because everyone has that experience and that success, and you can pass that along to the younger generations.”
Much like those before them, Stratman and Johnson don’t shy away from being focal points for the underclassmen.
They’ve put in their time to embrace their time.
“It’s really cool to be a part of this because in future years the girls you built that legacy for will continue it. It’s just super cool to always know we have to get the job done to continue our streak but also knowing that we still have to be super competitive and it’s not easy,” Stratman said. “It’s really about putting in the hard work and focusing on achieving that goal every year with every team.”
Swimming runs in Stratman’s family with her mother, Jenny, competing as a sprinter while at Rushville High School and later at the University of Indianapolis.
For Johnson, the sport is her own, but at Greenfield-Central, no one is ever alone.
“We call it our ‘Ohana family’ like from ‘Lilo & Stitch,’” Stratman said. “It’s our water family. (Greenfield-Central girls coach) Emily (Logan) is our swim mom, and we can say, (G-C boys coach) Mark is our swim dad. They treat all of us like we’re their children. They are there for your successes and your losses. It’s really cool to be part of that type of atmosphere.”
The G-C swim family rarely celebrates without the other and always for one another.
During this year’s IHSAA state meet, Johnson realized the depth of the Cougars’ family dynamic when she broke the program’s 24-year-old record in the 100 breaststroke.
Johnson turned in a school-record time of 1 minute, 4.51 seconds during the state preliminary heats to advance into the consolation finals the next day.
She eventually placed 16th at state in 1:06.07, but not before relishing her prelim achievement the Cougar way.
“After I finished the race, I didn’t know I broke it right away. I looked over at my teammates before I looked over at the time, and they were so excited. Right then, I knew. I broke it,” Johnson said. “I got to see their reaction before I got to feel my own.”
Later that evening, the feat sank in deeper.
“Breaking that record has always been such a dream for me. I’ve always wanted to break that record because it’s always been the oldest one on the board. My coach, Mark, actually coached the girl (Andrea Stouder) who had it, so we were both coached by the same person, which I think is so cool and unique,” Johnson said. “I watched my former teammate, Megan Coffin, train so hard to break that record and unfortunately her senior year at state, she didn’t break it. But, she looked at me and said, ‘Norah, I want you to break that record.’ I told her, ‘OK.’ I was just a freshman and I told her I would. And, I did. (Megan) was there, too.”
Stouder, one of the Cougar all-time greats in the last 1990s, reached out to Johnson that same night.
“She texted me, and told me congratulations on breaking the record, and I was so excited. It was like 10 o’clock at night, and I called her. I wanted to talk to her. I had to call her,” Johnson said. “She told me, ‘That record really needed to come down.’ I told her, ‘It was a hard one to break, I’ll tell you that.’”
Surpassing either Stratman or Johnson on the program record board won’t be either.
Stratman currently holds school records in the 100 backstroke and is part of the record-setting 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay.
Johnson owns additional school records with the 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and 200 free relay.
Both lent a hand in three of G-C’s four school records established during the 2021-22 IHSAA state meet.
Johnson and Stratman teamed with Alyssa Osborn and Rachel Stutz to finish 14th at state in the 200 medley relay in a record time of 1:49.32.
In the 400 free relay, the quartet set another new mark at state with a time of 3:38.22 for 18th overall.
“It’s all about how hard you can push yourself,” Stratman said. “I know if I push myself the hardest that I can, it will make me and the team better. I love pushing myself hard, and you have everyone else to work with.”
The work never ends, and Johnson doesn’t want it any other way.
“One of the main things I like to stress to the underclassmen now is it’s not just given. This isn’t something you should just expect. We still need to work hard. We still need to continue what we’re doing. It’s not given. It’s earned by our team every single year,” Johnson said.
