MOUNT VERNON — For Mount Vernon High School and YMCA swimmer Johnson Cochrane, it all came together at the right time — just as he was getting ready to swim at the YMCA National Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
After biting off a little more than he could chew in last year’s nationals, Cochrane was determined that this year would be different.
“I definitely knew I wanted to make a bigger splash this year,” said Cochrane. “I was coming in thinking that the sky was the limit. I was coming off a sort of letdown swim in the 200 (breaststroke, earlier in the competition, where he place 103rd). I didn’t swim my best time in that. I had hope in the 100m being the race that I swim a lot more. Just behind the block, I was feeling different than I usually do. I felt that I was in control of my race a little more.”
When Cochrane was done he had landed the best 100 yard breaststroke of his life (59.17 seconds) and placed 44th in the nation.
