Luck has little to do how NIU’s Leah Johnson came into gymnastics. Luck seems too complicated for a simple decision.

“I had lots of energy when I was little,” Johnson said. “I was always bouncing around.”

So what do you do with a 3-year-old with too much energy for her own good?

Enroll them in gymnastics, of course.

Sure, Johnson went on to try other sports. She tried dance classes, swimming and tennis. But none of those equaled to gymnastics in her eyes.

Johnson even tried ice skating, and she liked it, but when doing both ice skating and gymnastics became too expensive, her mom made her choose.

Johnson went with her first love: gymnastics.

“I’ve been doing it ever since,” Johnson said.

And the rest is history, or actually, history in the making.

Johnson, a freshman from Glenview, has done the unthinkable. Within her first two meets, Johnson won the all-around title.

On Jan. 15 Johnson scored a 38.725, tying her for first place in her collegiate debut. Two days later, Johnson took home her first conference award, being named MAC Gymnast of the Week.

“That’s huge,” NIU gymnastics head coach Mark Sontag said. “It speaks well for the future of the team.”

Then for her encore performance Sunday, Johnson upped her performance an additional .325 points, giving her overall points total to a staggering 39.05, giving her a near perfect 10 in all four events.

“It shows she’s going to be a good competitor,” Sontag said after the meet.

Some people may put pressure on Johnson to win every meet and tournament she competes in, and she knows it.

“Sometimes I feel like I have to be on top all the time,” she said. “I know there are days where I know I can’t be.”

However, no matter how much pressure anyone puts on Johnson to perform, she has already set her expectations that high, if not higher, she said.

That same humbleness shows in how she presents herself with the team.

When being interviewed about her performance after Sunday’s meet, she only answered in “we’s” and was quick to complement the whole team on its floor exercise score.

When it came to choosing a school, Johnson said she knew she wanted to go to NIU after her official visit.

“I was looking at other schools,” Johnson said. “But I met the girls on the team, and they were amazing.”

Lucky for NIU.

Maybe a little luck has something to do with Johnson becoming a star gymnast, which may be looked at as bad luck by the ice skating world.