Johnson impacts athletes’ lives in and out of the pool

As a 10-year-old, future Mercer Island High School (MIHS) standout swimming head coach Chauntelle Johnson wasn’t fearful of the water.

While living in Hawaii for two years, her family noticed this aquatic bravery and felt that enrolling her in swim lessons was the sensible route to take.

“I kind of naturally just took to it and zoomed through lessons fairly quick,” said Johnson, who joined a swim team in Hawaii and soon moved back home to Oak Harbor and continued her swimming journey while dipping her toes into youth coaching as well.

Johnson garnered copious accolades in the pool and in the academic realm as a member of the Oak Harbor High School squad and later for the Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State University) team. She won Missouri Valley Conference 50- and 100-freestyle crowns, was named to the conference All-Centennial Team at its 100th anniversary celebration, won a spirit award along the way and more.

In Oak Harbor, club head coach Bob Pease welcomed the teenage Johnson onto the coaching scene and was highly influential in how she would later craft her own ultra-successful MIHS swim and dive teams that would capture a multitude of 3A state championships.

Also having an immense impact on Johnson’s coaching career were former MIHS head coach Jeff Lowell and Missouri coaches Jack Steck and Randy Horner. Along with their guidance and encouragement, Johnson amassed coaching tools that she could tweak, grow and build off of when she stepped into the leadership spotlight. Those tools include elements like helping develop a work ethic, reinforcing stroke correction, assembling a successful team like puzzle pieces, establishing consistency and pushing through challenges.

After MIHS five-time boys 3A state championship head coach Lowell brought Johnson on board as his boys and girls assistant for two years, Johnson took over the head coaching job for both teams and immediately notched girls and boys state championships in 2009 and 2010.

“It was actually really emotional. It felt like I was coaching all my little sisters and they believed in me and they listened and they held on to every word and we did this really hard thing together,” Johnson, now 41, recalls about winning her first MIHS state title. “You were given a chance to actually coach a group of kids that had the ability and you needed to put it together and put a bow on it and fine-tune it.”

MIHS state team championships kept coming for Johnson and her crews with the girls winning from 2009-2013 and 2022-2024 and the boys triumphing from 2010-2012. That amounts to eight girls state titles in 12 seasons and three boys state crowns in six seasons. Presently, Johnson only coaches the girls team.

In the Islanders’ most recent state team championship on Nov. 16 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, the girls set seven school records and notched eight Automatic High School All-American marks and three state title times. Johnson beamed with pride for sending 17 athletes to the state meet.

“We have worked as a unit the entire season — which was evident by how many athletes competed for us at the state meet,” she said in a previous Reporter article. “This was a very fast meet and had more All-American swims than any state meet I have ever seen. A team win in this environment is impressive and would put us in the category as one of the best teams in (the) MIHS program and WIAA state history.”

Johnson took a four-year break from MIHS swimming at one point to raise her family and work, but came splashing back to lead the Islanders to further success.

When thinking about her MIHS experience, Johnson said that coaching helped build her character while she was making an impact on her swimmers as well.

“I started to figure out that I can become a better person by helping other people become better people,” said Johnson, adding that she missed those special moments while she was away from MIHS and was pleased to return to the Island.

It’s been a life highlight for Johnson to coach at MIHS and she can’t imagine doing the thing she loves anywhere else, she said. Coaching Islanders brings her heaps of joy.

Johnson, who lives in Bellevue with her husband Michael and daughters Savannah (13, a basketball player) and Carly (10, a swimmer), is the general manager of the Edgebrook Swim and Tennis Club in Bellevue when she’s not coaching at MIHS.

When thinking about her swimmers, Johnson recalls what drew her to the sport as a youth and how it’s paved a positive life road for herself that she can share with others.

“I loved the individual aspect of it because I felt like I was constantly in control of me, and I kind of was responsible for both my own success and failure,” she said. “Really that I was in control of my own destiny. It wasn’t just that hard work will get you a result, but that you don’t want to ever look back with regret.”

Through coaching, Johnson hopes to prepare her swimmers for college competitions and for the Islanders to continue experiencing the true team atmosphere that firmly resides within the MIHS program.

For situations that will arise in swimming and life, Johnson relays this advice to the Islanders: “I want them to know that they can do hard things, and that things can be challenging. When you are surrounded by the right group of people around you, and you are true to yourself, you can accomplish hard things.”

The coach hopes that she’s helped Islander swimmers along the way and that they fondly look back at their time in the program.

Former MIHS swimmer Kyle Moline noted, in part, about his memorable seasons under Johnson’s tutelage: “She taught me how to elevate others and showcase their achievements, never trying to take credit for them instead.”

Added another former Islander swimmer, Grace Wold: “Chauntelle has had a tremendous impact on my life as an athlete and a person. She is someone who taught me the value of small efforts everyday that add up to big impacts.”

MIHS athletic director Lindsey Blaine said that Johnson is nothing short of amazing as a coach, mentor and role model who leaves a lasting impact on her swimmers in and out of the pool.

“She creates a team culture where everyone feels valued, supported and part of something bigger than themselves. It’s not just about the wins (though they’re impressive!) — it’s about how she helps her athletes grow, both as athletes and as individuals, while making them feel like they belong,” Blaine said.