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Steier, Johnson cap stellar careers

TAMPA -- They both know the feeling of competing in a track meet and wearing the jersey everybody in the field wants to beat.

They know the pressure of living up to those expectations time and again. And they know those expectations are nowhere near as high as the ones they place on themselves.

Berkeley Prep's Rolf Steier and Tampa Baptist's Garrett Johnson entered their senior seasons knowing they had one last chance to leave their marks on Florida high school track and field. And they did just that.

Steier and Johnson, the Times All-County Co-Athletes of the Year, combined to win three gold medals at the Class A state meet earlier this month. Those three medals raised their state championship total to eight.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Johnson and Steier is the way they progressed to that tally.

Steier burst on the scene as a freshman and won three consecutive 3,200-meter state titles beginning his sophomore year, adding titles in the 1,600 as a sophomore and junior. He finished second in the 1,600 this year by 0.58 seconds.

As a freshman, Johnson was overshadowed by his brother, Marqus, but by the time he was a junior, he had qualified for his first state meet, recorded the two best throws in Florida in the discus and shot put, and won a shot put state title and finished second in the discus.

As a senior, he once again recorded the two best throws in the state, threatened to set a pair of state records and walked away with gold medals in both events.

"It was somewhat bittersweet," said Johnson, who will join his brother on the track team at Florida State in the fall. "I knew I could win both titles, but I wanted to go break both state records and I didn't get either. I really wanted to go for it."

Johnson's best shot put throw this season was 62 feet, 5 inches, less than 3 feet shy of the state record. His personal best is 63-11 in the BAYTF Classic two weeks after the state tournament.

He threw the discus 192-5 during the regular season, missing the state record of 200-5.

As for Steier, there weren't many races in the past four years that he lost.

It's hard to do that when you're running a 2-mile race in 9 minutes, 6 seconds and a mile in 4:13. Times like those are what got the attention of colleges such as Stanford, where Steier will attend next year.

At the state meet, Steier lost the 1,600 to Omar Osbourne from Lauderhill Upperroom Christian by slightly more than a half-second in a race Osbourne called a "dream come true." But the Berkeley Prep senior rebounded to win his eighth state title (including three from cross country) by taking home the 3,200 crown.

"Looking back at it, I'm pretty happy with it," Steier said. "I'm a little disappointed I didn't win. That was one of my goals, but it's hard to be upset when I ran my fastest time of the year. It's disappointing but not terribly."

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