A dad might never have been so elated to hear his daughter was trading sports.
When Izzy Johnston was 12, the up-and-coming swimmer came to her father, former Steamboat Springs High School star and Arizona State center Tyson Johnston, to let him know she was swapping the pool for the hard court.
“She was like, ‘I don’t want to disappoint you, Dad, but I don’t want to swim anymore,'” Tyson Johnston recalled. “I was like, ‘That’s fine with me. You know the rule in our house is you can do whatever you want. You can play an instrument, you can dance. You’ve just got to do something. So what is it you want to do?’
“So she goes, ‘I want to play basketball.’ At that point, on the outside, I was keeping it cool, like, ‘Ok, yeah, whatever you want to do is great.’ And then I went around the corner and did (metaphorical) back flips because I was so excited.”
That decision was the launching pad for Izzy’s promising hooping career that led her to sign to play at Colorado School of Mines, and has seen her emerge as a pillar on Arapahoe’s undefeated, this season.
While Izzy has other basketball influences outside her home — notably longtime Arapahoe boss Jerry Knafelc, renowned local trainer Jody Hollins and her Hardwood Elite coach Derek Griffin — the on-court relationship with her dad has blossomed over the past couple of years and was a key factor in her ability to play at the next level.
The father-daughter duo can often be found grinding at the Littleton Family YMCA, where, in the offseason, they lift weights and do conditioning three days a week in the early-morning hours before school. After school, Izzy and Tyson return to the Y to work on skills training.
Even in-season, the duo gets work in at least once a week, usually on Sundays. The dedication to craft is not surprising in an athletic family where Izzy’s mom, Abby Johnston, played soccer at Arizona State. Plus, her aunt (and Abby’s sister) Lindsay Bonner was an All-American soccer player at Nebraska, Lindsay’s husband, Sherdrick Bonner, was a longtime quarterback in the Arena Football League, and their son (and Izzy’s cousin), Mason Bonner, is a Mullen football star signed to Michigan.
“At first, I thought getting up at 5:30 a.m. to work out with my dad throughout the week sounded like a little much, but when we started going my sophomore year, it just became a routine,” Izzy said. “Around that time is when I really started to believe I could play in college.
“During those workouts, there have been times where we’ve gotten upset with each other. It’s different hearing (criticisms) from a coach and hearing it from a parent, and my dad will definitely get on me. But even when that happens, we’d work out really hard and then go to take a water break and just look at each other and laugh, knowing that it’s all for the love of the sport.”
The 7-foot Tyson, who held the with 409 for 18 years before the mark was broken by Overland’s De’Ron Davis, is a different mold of player than his daughter.
But working with her tree of a dad has enabled the 5-foot-11 shooting guard, who is averaging 11.3 points for a balanced Warriors team this season, to be one of the state’s best finishers around the rim.
“She’s capable of driving the lane, banging bodies and finishing really tough looks,” Jerry Knafelc said. “She’s probably had more of those opportunities than anybody (on our team or that we’ve played against). And that’s a toughness thing, because not everybody wants to go deal with that contact in the paint to score.”
Johnston is one of three captains for Arapahoe, along with two fellow seniors, guard Ava Budler and forward Alexa LeDuff. Other key contributors for the Warriors include junior point guard Jaya White, who leads the team with 11.7 points, and sophomore guard Maria Trueman.
Knafelc has helmed the program for 16 years and is in his 39th year coaching at the school overall. The retired teacher’s Warriors have been to three Final Fours, and have their eyes on another appearance at the Denver Coliseum this season in search of the program’s elusive first state championship.
“We definitely are going for that state title, because I think it’s definitely within our reach,” Izzy said. “I remember going to the Coliseum when our team made it to the Final Four my freshman year, and I was a JV swing player watching. There’s nothing that matches the energy of playing there, so that’s the big goal in everyone’s mind.”
Class 6A appears to be a wide-open race this season.
While Arapahoe (10-0, and the Warriors won their bracket at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix in December) has emerged as an early contender, a handful of other teams also can make a run at the crown. No. 2 Broomfield has also yet to lose, No. 3 Cherokee Trail has been knocking on the door of a title appearance for several years, and No. 4 Northfield has the talent to continue its ascension as a rising Denver Public Schools power.
Plus, Columbine, Pine Creek and Denver East have all looked strong early. Bluebloods Valor Christian and Highlands Ranch can’t be counted out. Legend still looks dangerous after its state runner-up finish last season. And Riverdale Ridge, which features the state’s top player in Texas commit Brihanna Crittendon, is also capable of making a deep playoff run.
But Izzy Johnston is plotting a way for her Warriors to rise above all those squads. Johnston, a dedicated student who is ranked seventh in her class at Arapahoe with a 4.23 GPA and plans on studying quantitative biosciences and engineering at Mines, sees the Warriors’ depth as their X-factor going into Centennial League play and beyond.
“I think what separates us from all these other teams is that we have such a deep bench,” Johnston said. “Every girl on the varsity roster is able to contribute in a meaningful way, whether it’s offensively or defensively, and that’s going to set us apart come playoff time.”
