Mt. Lebanon product earns All-America honor
Cary Johns of Mt. Lebanon earned his first All-America honors of his collegiate career when he placed in the Top 10 at the 2018 Division II swimming and diving championships held in Greensboro, N.C.
The Clarion University junior finished eighth in the 1-meter event and scored 469.15 points to earn his first recognition. The distinction made him the latest in a long line of Golden Eagles to achieve All-America status and he becomes the 282nd All-American during the coaching tenure of Dave Hrovat.
“That’s probably the best men’s finals field I’ve seen in all my years of coaching,” said Hrovat, a 1983 Chartiers Valley graduate. “Everyone was really locked in, and for Cary to perform the way he did in his first trip to NCAA’s blew me away. He’s got the right to be proud with the way he competed and finished.”
Johns also took ninth in the 3-meter event and secured All-America honorable mention recognition.
Johns posted a score of 475.45 in the preliminary round. Coming up just one spot shy of making the finals, he still performed his best of the season.
According to Hrovat, who has coached at Clarion for 27 years, Johns’ work was exemplary.
“Cary’s lifts were some of the best he had all year long,” said Hrovat, who still holds the school diving record at CV. “Like the 1-meter event, it was a loaded field and our guys battled. I’m so proud of how they responded all year long. For Cary and Mikey [Allison] to do this well in their first trip to NCAA’s is pretty special.”
Johns graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2015. The son of Linda and Jim Johns was a bronze medalist in the WPIAL as well as Almanac MVP for diving his senior season.