Jason Johnston

Barry Faulkner

While the often-overmatched com-petition strains to catch up with

Estancia High track and field standout Jason Johnston, he maintains a

personal pursuit of his own: hoping to catch a break.

Johnston has performed at a high level throughout his three-year

varsity career with the Eagles, earning consistent points in the

110-meter high hurdles, the 300 intermediate hurdles, the long jump

and the triple jump. But the next time he competes at full strength,

might be his first.

“He has been having a lot of good meets and he’s not even

healthy,” Estancia Coach Steve Crenshaw said.

Johnston overcame a heel problem last season to win the Pacific

Coast League long jump title. He was also third in the high hurdles,

fourth in the intermediates and fourth in the triple jump at league

finals as a sophomore.

The trouble, however, was just beginning. Surgery to repair a

dislocated shoulder required a 10-month recovery, six months of which

he was unable to run. In addition to costing him his junior football

season, the surgery severely hampered any offseason track and field

training. Johnston said he lost all muscle tone in the shoulder, but

worked hard in physical therapy, not only on regaining strength in

the shoulder, but strengthening his legs, as well. Once he was

allowed to begin running, he said it took little time to regain his

form in the hurdles and jumps.

Early this season, however, he landed awkwardly in an uneven jump

pit and strained his lower back in a Golden West League dual meet at

Saddleback. Then, while still nursing a bad back, he was bitten by

the flu bug.

Johnston, though frustrated at times by the continuing string of

ailments, has refused to relent. Despite being sick and still a bit

gimpy, he swept his four events in Thursday’s league dual-meet

victory over Orange. What’s more, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week

put up the kind of marks that most healthy competitors would aspire

to.

He won the high hurdles in 16.1, a mere half-second off his

personal record and six seconds ahead of his closest competitor. His

43.6 clocking in the 300 hurdles was more than five seconds faster

than the runner-up and just two-tenths off his PR. He went 20-4 1/2

in the long jump and 40-2 in the triple jump, events in which his

career bests are 22-6 and 40-11, respectively.

“He was so sick against Orange, I wasn’t sure, before the meet,

that he was going to make it,” Crenshaw said. “Before the 300

hurdles, I asked him how he was feeling and he couldn’t even get a

sentence out without coughing. I wasn’t sure he had the wind to run

the race, because it’s a tough one, especially when you’re not

breathing well. But he sucked it up and did it. To win four events in

that condition says something about what a competitor he is.”

Crenshaw has also been impressed with Johnston’s character and

work ethic and believes the talented junior is a shining example to

all his athletes.

“He didn’t practice Monday, but he was there at practice trying to

learn,” Crenshaw said. “Then, when the team went to the weight room,

he actually lifted a little bit.”

That dedication has helped Johnston pick up the highly technical

hurdle events, though he did not run a competitive hurdles race until

late in his freshman season.

“We kind of threw him into the hurdles because he had fooled

around and shown pretty good form and we needed a few points to try

to win a league meet,” Crenshaw recalled. “He has a lot of athletic

ability, but he has also become very technical.”

Now, the hurdles has joined the long jump as Johnston’s favorite

events.

“I like the challenge [of the hurdles],” he said.

Johnston is also driven by the challenge of the school long jump

record of 23-4, set by Eric Dorn in 1986. And, there is as the

“family record” of 22-11, established by his uncle.