Small-town girl Johnson has made big strides at Princeton

In high school, junior cross country runner Jen Johnson grew accustomed to traveling long distances. A native of Kit Carson, a 250-person ranching town in eastern Colorado, Johnson lived most of her childhood and adolescence 140 miles from the nearest airport. A visit to the "local" supermarket meant a two-hour road trip. Her prom date lived 45 minutes away.

Even at home, Johnson did not stay in one place for long. The Johnson family ranch supports 1,200 head of cattle and spans over 20,000 acres, a vast property that requires daily care and maintenance. On weekends, Johnson, along with her parents and three brothers, crisscrossed the ranch to distribute feed, check for sick cattle and mend fences.

Though used to journeying across the plains of Colorado in cars, tractors and all-terrain vehicles, Johnson had next to no experience with long-distance running when she arrived on campus as a Princeton freshman two years ago. She hardly seemed destined for a top spot on the competitive Tiger track and cross country teams.

"Most girls on the Princeton team are running, even in high school, at least 40 miles a week," Johnson said. "I ran a maximum of 12 miles a week. And that is maximum. It was probably more like 10, usually."

Thus, until her senior year of high school, Johnson had never run longer than three miles — unusual, considering that she competed in two-mile races. On her Princeton recruiting visit, Johnson accompanied her host on what was then the longest run of her life: a 50-minute recovery run. It was an excruciating and embarrassing experience.

"It was just a recovery run for her, and she was probably thinking, 'What is wrong with this girl?' " Johnson said.

Considering her paltry high school training, Johnson was lucky to be recruited. During the summer after her junior year, Johnson and her family came out east to look at colleges. When her mother called to arrange a meeting with Princeton head coach Peter Farrell, he asked for Johnson's mile time.

It was five minutes, 16 seconds, a time that was, in Johnson's words, "incredible, compared to the rest of small-town Colorado." It made Johnson a four-time high school state champion. Nevertheless, 5:16 was nothing to brag about on a national level.

"Mom told him my mile time, and he said, 'We don't have room for her,' " said Johnson, laughing. "And he was literally hanging up the phone, and Mom said, 'Wait, wait, wait! Let me explain! She doesn't really have a coach! She's running 12 miles a week!' "

In that first meeting, Farrell recognized Johnson as a type of runner that track coaches are always seeking: an "underdeveloped talent." She excelled in other sports, and her mile time was slow because of poor coaching, not insufficient ability. Farrell also witnessed the personality traits that would make Johnson an essential member of his team.

"This girl is hiding nothing. She's not holding her cards back. Her personality, her desires, dreams, goals are apparent after a half hour of talking to her," Farrell said of their first meeting. "She's a small-town girl: honest and wholesome and all that good stuff."

So far, Farrell's instincts about Johnson's potential have proven correct. After beginning her Princeton career in the bottom half of the team, Johnson ended last year's cross country season 10th on a team of 24.

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This season, Johnson keeps climbing in the team rankings. Earlier this month, she ran "the best race of my life, literally," finishing eighth on the team at a meet against Harvard and Yale. She eclipsed this accomplishment with her performance at Pre-Nationals on Oct. 15, where she placed fifth on the team. Her mile time is now 5:03, 13 seconds faster than the time that almost didn't get her an interview with Farrell.

Yet when her friends and teammates discuss Johnson, they rarely mention her race times, team ranking or improvement since freshman year. Instead, they talk about those less quantitative characteristics that Farrell noticed in their first meeting — her positive attitude, self-discipline and confidence.

They, like Farrell, identify Johnson's Kit Carson upbringing as the main source of all these outstanding qualities.

"On the track team, an ongoing joke is how Jen is the paradigm of efficiency," said junior teammate Rachel Farnsworth, who, along with several other Princeton runners, visited Johnson on her ranch last winter. "I'm sure waking up at 7 a.m. every day to herd and drive cattle contributed to that feature."

"While my teammates and I were exhausted and developing cabin fever by day two on the ranch," Farnsworth added. "Jen was ecstatically jumping out of bed every morning to put on her Wrangler jeans and feed cattle."

Apparently, Kit Carson has done more for Johnson than any 40-mile-a-week training program ever could.