Stuart’s Johnson lives up to expectations
By: Justin Feil
Carys Johnson entered her first season of varsity track and field with few expectations.
The Princeton resident competed as an eighth grader at Stuart Country Day School and just wanted to keep it going as a freshman. When she did well in her first year, it set her up for this, her sophomore year.
"I wanted to do track because I did it for one year in middle school," she explained of her roots. "I was happy how it turned out. I came in with a lot higher expectations this year."
Even though Stuart does not have an official indoor track team, Johnson spent last winter training with teammates Nicole Huber and Carrie Heckel. Johnson finished third in the 55-meter dash and 200 meters in the combined state prep championships to set her up for the spring and had a strong showing at the Colgate Games.
"I felt good because I had had a lot of training," Johnson said. "I was in shape, I was ready to go. It was a lot of preparation physically and also I needed to get prepared mentally for it."
Johnson has continued to progress through the spring while adding to her resume. After winning the 100 and 200 meters at last year’s Patriot Conference Championships, Johnson went a step beyond that and last Friday won the 100, 200 and 400 as well as anchored the 4×400 relay to a win as the Tartans beat second-place Pennington by 100 points for their fifth straight Patriot crown.
Carys Johnson is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
"She broke the school record in the 100 (12.5 seconds) and broke the school record in the 200 (26.8)," said Stuart head coach Robert Abdullah. "The 400, that was the tough one. She had to fight the girl from Ranney. She had a big lead and the girl was coming. We believe her best event will be the 400. This is her first year running it. We have two years to mature her.
"She’s been running pretty well. She ran 62 in the relay. She’s never been tested in it because we always have had the lead. We’re looking to go under 4:20, maybe at the county championships."
Johnson is looking forward to testing herself in the Mercer County Championships on Saturday at Steinert. It will be a chance for her to challenge some of the top public school runners in the area.
"I’m nervous, but excited," Johnson said. "Sometimes you don’t get the competition as a smaller school. I know I can post good times if I’m running with them."
Johnson was perfect in being able to pull away from all her competition last Friday. Stuart’s Huber won the one and two mile races, Dominic Rice won the shot put, Jenae Harrington won the long jump, Brittany Kidd won the high jump and Hannah Wilson captured the 400 hurdles. The Tartans won 10 of the 14 events contested. Those performances helped Stuart to a three-digit win.
"We were really not expecting it to turn out with that margin," Johnson said. "We were hoping for a win and knew it was going to be a hard meet. When we heard the score, we were blown away. "Friday," she added, "was an especially good day, in terms of the team and myself. As a team, we were having a great day. I was able to feed off other people’s performances."
Johnson entered as the defending champion in the 100 and 200, and she wanted to come out with those titles again as well as the 400. She couldn’t have planned a better championship when the mile relay topped it off.
"Of course, I was hoping that would be the case and I’d be able to break a couple records," she said. "It was a great day. To go there and have all the energy, it comes from all the adrenaline. And with the training I had, coming in I was pretty confident because I’d worked so hard at practice.
"I like to be confident, not too confident. I was nervous coming in. I won the 100 and 200 at Patriot Conferences last year so I was confident in those. In the 400, I wanted to do a good job and in the 4×400 I wanted to do a good job because everyone is depending on you."
Johnson has quickly become one of the most dependable Tartan athletes on the track team. On a day when so many Stuart athletes came through, she played a major part in the decisive win.
"Going into that meet, the girls were a little nervous," Abdullah said. "Pennington, on paper, has a team as good as us. Our girls responded well. We have a young team."
Maybe scariest for opponents is that Johnson only figures to get better in the coming years of high school. She is just beginning to tap into her potential in the 400. She won Friday immediately after winning the 100, making it as tough a double as there is.
"It was the most important race for me," Johnson said of her quarter mile. "I was literally coming out of the 100 finals. I was tired and nervous, but all that energy went into it. I literally held on. That’s the hardest part.
"I didn’t run the 400 really at all last year," she added. "I started as a freshman running the shorter sprints. It’s still new to me. I’m learning."
Abdullah likes Johnson’s approach to the sport and how willing she is to delve into a new event. He thinks she has the tools to develop into a star at that distance thanks to her sprint speed and dedication to improvement.
"Carys is such a hard worker," Abdullah said. "She’s very committed to be the best she can be. She ran indoors and ran well in the Colgate Games. She finished third in the 55 and 200 at the prep indoor championships and that’s A and B.
"We knew that her best event might be the 400 meters. She has good speed and desire to be the best. When she ran at the conference meet, she trained hard for it. We knew it would be a close go."
Johnson was the Patriot Conference favorite in the 100 and 200. She was largely unknown in the 400, for which she had to compete individually and as part of the Tartans mile relay. Carys Johnson came through in all four of her events to contribute to a decisive Patriot Conference win for Stuart while at the same time raising those expectations for next year a little higher.