Sports Update
Johnson anything but run of the mill
BY Matt Welch Staff Writer
The sun set on the cross country season for all but a select few this past weekend in Round Rock, but that didn’t stop goals from being set and expectations laid for Plano Senior’s Juan Sanchez and Rachel Johnson.
In an afternoon characterized by near-misses, Johnson, a junior, was denied her first state championship by three seconds, placing second at 10:48.6 to reigning champion Sarah Andrews from The Woodlands. Sanchez, a senior, placed 22nd (15:55.4) in a 5000-meter run with a time that was a mere three-tenths of a second shy of breaking through to his personal goal for the meet.
“The goal going in was to make the top 20,” said Tim Eshleman, Plano boys head coach. “So basically, it came down to tenths of a second that were the difference. [Sanchez] was up there in the top 15 where he needed to be. It was just really close.”
Johnson displayed more of the usual in a full-circle showing from her sophomore campaign.
“[Johnson] ran a great race,” said Dawn Pittman, Plano girls head coach. “That was her personal best and career best. She did fantastic and I really don’t know what she could have done differently.”
For Johnson, Saturday’s two-mile run was a testament to the strides taken just one year after her last sprint through Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. Finishing 31st with a mark of 11:47.0 at the 2008 state meet, the Lady Wildcat essentially shaved one minute off her time on Saturday.
“It’s one whole minute in a year,” Pittman said. “You get to a point where you realize how much better you can be with harder workouts and more mileage, and she’s a very elite runner. With some tweaks to her workouts and such, this is where she’s going. She’s going to be great.”
While the improvements raise questions as to what feats may lie ahead for her senior year, Saturday’s sayonara to the school circuit didn’t come without a bit of early adversity from the opening gun.
“For Rachel’s start,” Pittman said, “it was a good start but she still got pushed into the middle of the pack. It took her probably about 800 meters to really starting pushing into the top 4. By the mile marker, she started coming into second place.
“Sarah was really far ahead of everyone for a while and then the last half of the two-mile course, Rachel made up a whole lot of ground.”
The opening start proved a pivotal turn in Sanchez’s conquest as well.
Eshleman said the narrowness of the course at Old Settlers Park was a stark contrast from the course in Lubbock; the site where Sanchez stormed to a seventh place finish in regionals.
“The course was narrow,” he said, “and if you weren’t in front, you weren’t going to make it to the front, so Juan had to run faster than his comfort zone or the way he likes running a race. He had to get out and hold onto what he had, and that’s what he did.”
While the second place finish effectively ends Johnson’s season running for Plano, Pittman said the build to track season isn’t finished for the speedster. In fact, Johnson plans on returning to action as early as this weekend, when she will enter Andrews’ own backyard at the Nike South Regionals, held in The Woodlands.
Also on tap for Johnson is a trip to North Carolina to participate in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships on Nov. 28. So, despite being one year younger, Johnson will still have a number of opportunities to avenge Saturday’s defeat.
Sanchez’s finish caps a Plano season that alongside a slew of strong individual showings, featured the one thing that eluded the team last season: a participant in the state meet.
“We had three runners in the top 10 in district, that was a plus,” Eshleman said. “Of course with Juan finishing the way he did and making it to state, this was a successful season.”
In an afternoon characterized by near-misses, Johnson, a junior, was denied her first state championship by three seconds, placing second at 10:48.6 to reigning champion Sarah Andrews from The Woodlands. Sanchez, a senior, placed 22nd (15:55.4) in a 5000-meter run with a time that was a mere three-tenths of a second shy of breaking through to his personal goal for the meet.
“The goal going in was to make the top 20,” said Tim Eshleman, Plano boys head coach. “So basically, it came down to tenths of a second that were the difference. [Sanchez] was up there in the top 15 where he needed to be. It was just really close.”
Johnson displayed more of the usual in a full-circle showing from her sophomore campaign.
“[Johnson] ran a great race,” said Dawn Pittman, Plano girls head coach. “That was her personal best and career best. She did fantastic and I really don’t know what she could have done differently.”
For Johnson, Saturday’s two-mile run was a testament to the strides taken just one year after her last sprint through Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. Finishing 31st with a mark of 11:47.0 at the 2008 state meet, the Lady Wildcat essentially shaved one minute off her time on Saturday.
“It’s one whole minute in a year,” Pittman said. “You get to a point where you realize how much better you can be with harder workouts and more mileage, and she’s a very elite runner. With some tweaks to her workouts and such, this is where she’s going. She’s going to be great.”
While the improvements raise questions as to what feats may lie ahead for her senior year, Saturday’s sayonara to the school circuit didn’t come without a bit of early adversity from the opening gun.
“For Rachel’s start,” Pittman said, “it was a good start but she still got pushed into the middle of the pack. It took her probably about 800 meters to really starting pushing into the top 4. By the mile marker, she started coming into second place.
“Sarah was really far ahead of everyone for a while and then the last half of the two-mile course, Rachel made up a whole lot of ground.”
The opening start proved a pivotal turn in Sanchez’s conquest as well.
Eshleman said the narrowness of the course at Old Settlers Park was a stark contrast from the course in Lubbock; the site where Sanchez stormed to a seventh place finish in regionals.
“The course was narrow,” he said, “and if you weren’t in front, you weren’t going to make it to the front, so Juan had to run faster than his comfort zone or the way he likes running a race. He had to get out and hold onto what he had, and that’s what he did.”
While the second place finish effectively ends Johnson’s season running for Plano, Pittman said the build to track season isn’t finished for the speedster. In fact, Johnson plans on returning to action as early as this weekend, when she will enter Andrews’ own backyard at the Nike South Regionals, held in The Woodlands.
Also on tap for Johnson is a trip to North Carolina to participate in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships on Nov. 28. So, despite being one year younger, Johnson will still have a number of opportunities to avenge Saturday’s defeat.
Sanchez’s finish caps a Plano season that alongside a slew of strong individual showings, featured the one thing that eluded the team last season: a participant in the state meet.
“We had three runners in the top 10 in district, that was a plus,” Eshleman said. “Of course with Juan finishing the way he did and making it to state, this was a successful season.”
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