By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Before the Sept. 10 meet at Quinter, Plainville cross country coach Shawn Bammes and sophomore Brady Johnson discovered reigning Class 1A state champion Ness City would not compete. The goal changed from simply winning the race. Bammes told Johnson to run for the course record and to try to catch the golf cart that leads the race.

"That is all he has got in front of him," Bammes said. "Something to get in his sights, at least."

Johnson broke the course record with a time of 17 minutes, 26 seconds. He won the meet by a minute, a bigger gap than between the second- and eighth-place finishers. It was one of several dominating runs for Johnson this fall. Johnson has captured victories by massive margins, including by 1:55 at the WaKeeney-Trego meet, 54 seconds at the Mid-Continent League meet and 29 seconds at the Class 2A Regional Championships last Saturday in Hill City.

"What impresses me is his strength," Hill City coach Brad Eckols said. "I feel like he just powers his way through the meet. He just powers his way through the course. He is very strong, very determined."

Johnson has lost one race all season, when he finished third at the Ness City Invitational to Eagles seniors Colton McNinch and Kyle Calvin. McNinch is the defending 1A state champion, while Calvin has the 1A 3,200-meter title.

"That was one of my goals, was to go undefeated throughout the season," Johnson said. "That was one of my goals. So far I have done so, except for Ness City."

Johnson, has accomplished every goal, save one, this season, including meet victories, breaking 18 minutes and 17:30 over a 5-kilometer course.

"I know my last and biggest goal was to win state," he said.

Johnson has the opportunity to cap an impressive season on Saturday at the Class 2A State Championships at Wamego Country Club. Johnson, who earned all-state honors as a freshman with a 12th-place finish, will run at 10 a.m., and is considered one of the favorites for the individual title. Other top runners include senior Eric Ruth from Johnson-Stanton County, freshman Mark Sutton from Oxford and junior Cory Keehn, the defending champion from Holton-Jackson Heights.

"Just run my own race and go out there and try to win," Johnson said.

Johnson has won often and sparked a revival in Plainville cross country. In past seasons, the Cardinals always had one dominant runner. From 2005-2008, Aubrey Frederking won two cross country titles but was often the lone runner on the team and had to run with Ellis during the season.

Johnson, who often ran with Frederking as a partner and still talks with the current Division I University of Missouri-Kansas City runner through e-mail or Facebook, has continued the tradition. Last year, he was Plainville's lone runner and ran with Ellis.

Before this season, Johnson talked with Plainville principal Troy Keiswetter and helped the Cardinals form their own team, with six boys and two girls. The team placed at two meets this season. Johnson has led the team; during the first week of practice, he approached Bammes with pieces of paper so all of the runners could write down season goals, a move that impressed the coach.

"I just wanted my team to be successful and my teammates to be successful during the season," Johnson said. "I just wanted to have great goals."

Johnson's successful season started in the summer. After he picked up all-state honors in track, Johnson ran 280 miles before cross country started. He and his father drove around and found different routes, ranging from two miles to eight miles. He would run after weightlifting, in the evening, or three days a week, Johnson woke up at 6 a.m. to run.

"That was one of the main focuses this summer was getting some miles and building a base," he said. "I've got more miles on me and I know kind of what I am doing, and I feel like I am a stronger runner this year."

During the season, Bammes, the Cardinals' assistant wrestling coach and first-year cross country coach, has often changed his practices to help Johnson, including timed runs.

"Have a route set and time," Bammes said. "Go out and start picking the kids up. Brady will be anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes above the rest of the kids, allows him to get some more miles in and allows some other kids that are new to the program to get some as well."

At times, he'll drop the runners off at different distances from the school. Johnson will have the farthest to run.

"He has to run back and has people in front of him that he can run towards," Bammes said.

During meets, though, Johnson has rarely had anyone in front of him.

"I have never seen a kid, 20 yards out of every race, he at full stride and he isn't going to back off," Bammes said.

Johnson's only loss came at Ness City on Oct. 1. McNinch, Calvin and Johnson beat all but one runner by at least 39 seconds. McNinch won in 17:26, while Calvin defeated Johnson by 1.02 seconds, 17:38.88 to 17:40.

"I was real focused going into that meet, and I knew that meet would be a really good, fast one," Johnson said. "... I kind of like running in a group more and having more competition."

After the meet, Johnson talked with McNinch, who has won four individual state titles and two team titles in cross country and track. McNinch, like Johnson, has dominated nearly every race this season.

"He kind of gave me tips for my upcoming year and for state," Johnson said. "It's just a real good experience. He said 'don't make state bigger than it is. Those other guys that you are competing against, this is their last years, but you still have two years after them. The biggest thing is just to relax and go have fun.' "

Area qualifiers

The Osborne girls earned the third and final team spot at the Hill City regional. The Bulldogs finished with 64 points, while Salina-Sacred Heart was second with 56 points and Bennington won the meet with 31 points. Freshman Eileen Mick was Osborne's lone runner in the top 10 with a fifth-place showing (17:17).

WaKeeney-Trego's Kourtney Hawksworth was sixth (17:19) at Hill City, while Oakley freshmen Cally Albers was 10th (17:40) and Hayley Ribordy was 16th (18:24). On the boys' side, Oakley sophomore Andrew Robben was sixth (18:57) and Oberlin' sophomore Tyler Shields and Dalton Shields were seventh and 12th, respectively.