One First Presbyterian Day School senior plans to blaze a trail down in Valdosta. Fran Johnson set her standards high in the classroom and just played like a monster on the softball diamond. Her efforts have made Johnson our Athlete of the Week.
You would need a mathematical equation to figure up all the records Fran Johnson earned on the softball diamond during her career. Jim Turner is the varsity coach and has known Fran for five years.
"She's got career records in batting average. She hit .444 in five years as career. She's number one this year in the GHSA Class A she hit .590. She holds the career record for steals, a career record for hits, single season record for homeruns, she had 7," Turner said.
Johnson also earned the Wendy's Heisman award this year.
"Every year there's only one female, and this year, it's here and she's at FPD. We're very proud of her," Turner said.
Her fellow students showed their appreciation for her when the senior inked a deal to continue her career at Valdosta State University. "Well, with her GPA and SAT, I think she could have named the college she wanted to go to I think she wanted to play with her sister at Valdosta State," Turner explained.
Her grade point average is a perfect 4.0 over four years.
She's never received a "B" on her report card.
"With school, I'm just driven and I study all the time, and my parents make fun of me for it because they say that's all I do," Fran said with a chuckle.
Johnson says it's important to her to graduate with distinction and at the top of her class. She says the road to perfection just stretches a little bit farther. "I can't go with the whole senioritis thing. I've got to just keep working and it's not the easiest thing to do, but I just got to keep going," Fran said.
For now, her name will keep going in the record books.
And as she tackles other sports like basketball and track, the Viking feels that her softball records will one day fall by the wayside.
That's okay.
"Records are made to be broken and I hope that the girls we have now will break them," Fran said.
"She's just incredibly unselfish, and if she could teach somebody how to break a record she would," Turner said.
Fran wants to take that incredible grade point average and one day become a pharmacist.