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But, he also understood that a bad day, or a muscle cramp ... worse yet, an injury ... could spoil an entire season's worth of hard work and effort. It's happened to other athletes.

Johnson endured no such hardship on Saturday, winning the regional championship in the 3200 and finishing second in the 1600 to qualify for state in both events.

Her smile after completing the 3200 broke through the gloomy overcast, and warmed Shay's heart as he offered his congratulations afterward. The 3200 turned into an exciting race, as Jessica Hall of Harbor Springs stayed right on Johnson's heels throughout the grueling eight laps.

Overtaking Johnson, however, proved an impossible task as the Trojans distance queen measured her opponent precisely correctly, and put on a final burst to hit the finish line in 12:14.18, a "comfy" 22 seconds ahead of Hall (12:36).

She just barely missed out on capturing the 1600 as well, failing to do so by only 5.52 seconds. Johnson's time of 5:27.88 was good for second place, and a spot in the state finals in her second event.

Although she didn't qualify for state, Rachel Eklund had a great day individually for the Trojans with a fourth place in the pole vault at a height of 7 feet, 2 inches.

Eklund also scored points in the 300-meter low hurdles, finishing sixth in a time of 53.09 seconds. Jillian Hines recorded a 22nd place in the shot put with a throw of 20 feet, 6 inches.

Central Lake's 3200-meter relay team was eighth in 11:14.20. The Trojans finished with 27 points for 1oth place overall. Lincoln-Alcona won the team title with 103 points, Harbor Springs finished second with 89 and Hale third with 76.

The Trojans scored eight points in the boys meet for 14th place. Harbor Springs piled up 118.5 for the regional title, Mio took second with 98 and Onaway finished third with 68.5.

Mike Haydell took fourth place in the 400-meter run with a time of 2:11.31, and was 13th in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 1/4 inch. Levi Antoine had a long jump of 14 feet, 6 1/2 inches for 19th place. Andrew Foss finished 17th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:00.01, and Antoine was 18th in 5:20.70. Foss also finished 400 meters with a time of 2:33.