By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com

Eagles were soaring at the state cross country championships on Saturday at the National Trail Raceway, and one Colonel Crawford Eagle flew away from the pack clutching the state championship within his talons.

With a time of 15 minutes and 18 seconds Colonel Crawford’s Chad Johnson took home the boy’s Division III individual state title. Johnson explained what it felt like to win state.

“It feels pretty good. It is like anyone else would say, it feels really good,” Johnson said. “The whole day was just exciting, I’m pretty overwhelmed.”

The state championship was the icing on Johnson’s outstanding and record-setting junior season, which included a first-place finish at the Crawford County meet with a time of 15:26, a new school record at the time. He lowered that record in the process of winning the Harding Invitational and setting the mark there with a time of 15:09. Johnson was also a winner at the N10 meet, the District meet and the Regional meet which qualified him to compete in the Division III state championships.

Johnson’s coach Jody Grove explained that as his coach it was great to see his work pay off.

“It was awesome to watch him run. He is just a very dedicated runner, hard worker, and just to watch his hard work pay off was rewarding for me,” Grove said.

Grove noted that there was no special training regimen for Johnson on his way to state.

“We start way back in June when track is over with. You take a week off, and start back up in June,” Grove said. “It’s a building process. Two years ago he was 33rd, last year he was seventh, and this year he was first. Sometimes it takes a while to get there, but if you pace it and put the work in it pays off.

“We talked about him winning the course record, and he was about three seconds off. When we got down there it was beautiful weather I asked him what is your goal, and he said ‘my first goal is to win the state event whatever falls after that falls,’ he said.

“I think he led at the mile mark, it was his strategy and said that I shouldn’t be surprised if he is a little behind as he was going to be running relaxed. I said, ‘That is great, you have done that before.’ But he ended up it was a smooth race for him. He didn’t think he would be leading the whole way, but he did.”

Johnson became the first person from Crawford County to win an individual state title in cross country since Crestline’s Bruce Melton won it in Class A in 1969.

Four other Crawford County athletes competed at Saturday’s state cross country championships, all in Division III. Colonel Crawford senior Nicholas Studer was 43rd with a time of 16:45. Carson Pirnstill of Bucyrus was 73rd with a time of 17:08, and Brad Bauer of Colonel Crawford was 85th with a time of 17:15.

In the girls Division III race, Anna Reffey of Colonel Crawford 65th with a time of 19:59.