Burrell grad Taylor Johnson saves her best for last with W&J track

Ask Derek Workman about one of his athletes, and the fourth-year W&J track and field coach is more than happy to talk. He will gush at length about some quality or some performance related to said athlete.

Stories abound, but there is one tale Workman said he will tell far into the future. It is the story of Taylor Johnson, a Burrell graduate who, in the final race of her collegiate career, turned in her most heroic — if unexpected — performance.

“There is something about a senior in their last meet that they can just take themselves to an entirely different level than you have ever seen,” Workman said. “And I think that’s what happened with Taylor.”

At the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championships, Johnson ran the third leg of W&J’s 1,600-meter relay, teaming with Jadyn Hartner, Bre Trusler and fellow senior and Burrell grad Faith Remich. They ran a season-best 4 minutes, 8.06 seconds and edged Grove City by 0.24 seconds for the title.

It was the first gold in a PAC championship meet for Johnson and Remich, a perfect ending to their time together.

“Before we ran at PACs, we were texting back and forth, and I was saying I can’t believe we’ve spent the last eight years of our track careers together,” Johnson said, “and it was pretty amazing to know that I would be running my last race ever with Faith and we could have the potential to be PAC champs together.

“It’s still something that I think I’ll remember forever, just being able to experience that whole thing with Faith.”

Johnson also earned a point in the open 400, finishing eighth. Workman had been strategizing how to steal as many points as possible at PACs, but having Johnson do it in the 400 wasn’t necessarily in the plan.

The PAC isn’t flush with female pole vaulters, so, during the season, Workman had Johnson spend several weeks practicing the event. She hadn’t done it before, but, given her athleticism, there was potential for her to score at PACs.

But Johnson failed to clear any height at the PAC championships, and that point escaped. Or so it seemed.

Johnson came to W&J from Burrell’s stable of talented female sprinters and initially ran the 100 and 200. Workman, however, later decided she might be more effective in the 400.

She ran it consistently throughout her time at W&J, but she wasn’t a regular medalist or point-scorer in the event.

Early this season, her 400 times were in the 67-second range, which Workman knew wasn’t going to cut it if his 4-by-400 relay had any chance to win the PAC title. Then, just a couple of weeks before the conference championships, Johnson’s times started to come down.

At the final two regular season meets, she broke the 65-second barrier, and Workman started to have hope.

He knew the other three runners on the relay were doing splits in the 60- to 61-second range. All they needed, he said, was for “Taylor to not run a 66.”

First, there was the open 400, and Johnson was in the slower of the two heats. Johnson won her heat with a personal-best time of 63.6 seconds, then sat back and hoped someone in the faster heat had an off day.

In the end, her time was good enough to take eighth and the point that eluded her in the pole vault.

“Going into it, I think I was (seeded) 16th maybe … so I really wasn’t expected to do it,” she said. “I ran the best 400 of my college track career, and it ended up being the time to make it to the podium and score a point. That’s something that will stay with me for a while as well.”

In the 1,600 relay, Johnson would take the baton from Remich, and, Workman said, the strategy was simple: get the baton to anchor runner Trusler with the lead.

Trusler was the PAC indoor 400 champion, so, Workman surmised, if Trusler could get the handoff with the lead, the race was over. It would be the first W&J women’s relay to win a PAC gold on Workman’s watch.

When Remich handed off to Johnson, the Presidents had a slim lead over Grove City’s relay. Johnson got passed by GCC’s No. 3 runner, Gianna D’Amato, but she had a strategy.

“I’m really good with kicking at the last 150 meters,” Johnson said, “so instead of fighting and trying to keep up with her, I’m just going to let her run. I’m just going to stay up close enough to be able to know that I can kick it at the end and be able to pass her.”

Sure enough, Johnson passed D’Amato in the closing meters — running her split in under 65 seconds — and gave the baton and the lead to Trusler. Trusler held off GCC’s Lydia Bennett for the title.

“She ran such a smart leg,” Workman said. “If Taylor doesn’t make that move on that last stretch, I don’t know if we win that 4-by-4. I think Bre and the other girl were very similar. It was going to come down to who had the lead.”

Another detail about Johnson’s performance: The point she scored in the open 400 provided the difference in the Presidents edging Geneva for third in the team standings.

Johnson keeps the 4-by-4 gold medal displayed in her room, and every time she looks at it, she smiles at the memory of what she accomplished. Her story of perseverance, Workman said, can serve as inspiration and an illustration of how every performance and every point counts.

“I will tell Taylor’s story for years to come because it’s someone you didn’t expect,” he said.

“It’s not like she was getting medals and was all-conference a million times, and she gets to leave the last race of her career with a gold medal.”