State cross country: Sterling’s Dale Johnson closes memorable career with 3rd-place finish

PEORIA – Described by his coach as a quiet and machinelike runner, IHSA Class 2A cross-country champion Dylon Nalley rarely bothers to pay attention to who his opponents are. Nalley, a senior from far downstate Marion who repeated as individual champion, definitely knew about Dale Johnson of Sterling.

It was Johnson who finished second to Nalley in a mud bath last year in the state meet and the only competitor able to keep up with Nalley in the early stages of this year’s meet run under sunny skies and negligible winds.

“I only know about him and one other runner,” said Nalley in pre-race comments. “I want to get a hard first mile in and tire anyone out who stays with me.”

With the thousands of fans cheering on Nalley and Johnson at Detweiller Park, they ran the first half mile in a blistering 2:10, with no one else to be found nearby. Nalley hit the mile mark at 4:26 and Johnson began to drop back a bit at 4:32.

Nalley kept on putting distance between him and the rest of the field with winning time of 14:05, while Johnson ended up in third at 14:22. Since 2007, when the IHSA expanded to three classes, Johnson’s mark would have won class 2A more often than not.

“My plan was go out from the gun and hang with him as long as I could,” Johnson said. “I’m not quite at his level yet.”

As both runners made a turn with less than a mile to go, Nalley gave one last glance back to see how much distance was between him and Johnson. When he saw Johnson not at his heels anymore, his mission became more about breaking the 2A course record and also putting himself up with the all-time elites that have run at Detweiller.

The 14:05 broke the 2A record by 6 seconds and placed him 13th among all runners that have competed at iconic Detweiller since the state meet moved there in 1970. An additional benefit for Nalley was leading Marion to the 2A team championship by 51 points over Glenbard South.

“Winning the team title meant more than me winning,” said Nalley, who had intentions of contending for the 13:49 overall course record.

Johnson’s effort ranks eighth all-time among 2A state competitors, two spots ahead of the 4:23 run by two-time state placer Jacob Gebhardt in 2017, effectively breaking Gebhardt’s school record. Additionally, Johnson has been a 2A top-10 finisher 3 years in a row and on target to go down as the most prolific long-distance runner at Sterling for cross country and track.

“It’s been pretty special placing three times and coming here one last time for a P.R.,” Johnson said, while being besieged by TV cameras, competitors and fans. “It was a different aspect being the one giving chase, instead of being chased. It may have cost me at the end, but I had nothing to lose in going out fast.”

With 50 meters to go, Trey Sato of Grayslake Central passed by Johnson to get second with a 14:21 clocking, a jump from 11th last year.

Sending a team downstate for the first time since 2016 when they placed fourth, the Golden Warriors took 23rd out of 28 teams with 532 points.

“It was special having our team here. They’re a fun group,” Johnson said.

Besides Johnson, the only other three-time state placer for Sterling was Jonathan Landis (2014-16).