When Webbers Falls cross country coach Meghan Johnson started her high school program two years ago, she was hoping it would take off. Now in its third season, she is beginning to see the interest peak, thanks to her lone high school runner — junior Cheyanne Herrier.

“Clearly without her, I don’t have a team,” Johnson said. “She is the essence of our team. The first year we did it, I opened it up to high schoolers (in 2021). I had four runners show up at the first meet. Three of them said, ‘Wow, that’s a long way,’ so Cheyanne is kind of our pillar of perseverance and endurance. When she mentions encouragement, that’s a highlight for her. That is her role as the team.”

That made Johnson take the next step in the program’s evolution.

“So, the next year I realized I need to build this from the bottom up, so I opened it up from third-graders and above,” she said. “So, last year, she had about 15 kids just really looking up to her. For her, setting that example for her running the fastest and the farthest puts a lot of pressure on her. She is being chased by them, so athletically it puts a lot of pressure on her, but also puts that leadership pressure on — and I’ve seen that generally grow and thrive. She loves the encouragement aspect. For her to meet with my group of middle school girls and get them warmed up, she’s not only my whole high school team. She sometimes functions as my assistant coach. She’s warming up the middle-schoolers and try to corral the elementary school kids, and it’s because of her positive presence at the practices and at the meets, it’s allowing our Webbers Falls team to grow.”

Since the 2022 season produced six middleschoolers and between eight to 10 elementary school runners, the future is slowly taking shape.

“So, we have a lot of up-and-comers,” the Webbers Falls cross country coach said. “I’ve had two first-graders approach me this year already and asked me to open it up to them.i told them they have to wait two years. I can go all the way down to pre-K. Some of these meets are open to anybody who wants to run. I don’t want to try to handle more than that (ages third grade and older) on my own. I want first to have Cheyanne run her race, and not have her first role be as my assistant coach.”

The influx of runners made Johnson take the next step.

“So, as a result of cross country and the way it has blossomed in our school, we started The Webbers Falls Running Club,” Johnson said. “Now, I have parents joining us at some of the Wings races and participating in those. Webbers Falls hosts two 5Ks a year. We started with Cheyanne, and we’ve bloomed into all these elementary and middle school kids that love to run. We want to expand this love (of running) down to our community, so we’re going to go and grow.”

Johnson does want the program to grow, but there is somewhat of a limit to what that growth can be.

“A school bus size, that’s going to be my limit — how much a school bus can hold,” she said. “I may have to go get my bus (driving) license. Idealistically, having a high school team of one is great, but I obviously would love a full team — a full female team and a full male team — that I could take, and that’s seven runners to compete. That’s my first goal. I would like to field a full high school team. In order to achieve that goal, I’m trying to go community wide. I’ve spread my roots in every direction and reach everywhere I can go. My goal is to have a full male and female team.”

Johnson wants to show the importance of running to anyone’s lifestyle.

“It’s just tremendous to me,” Johnson said. “Running is just the basis to any other sport. I started running as a support to my soccer career, and I kept on it as a support for my boxing career. Now, it’s just running. I’m just trying to build this culture of health and movement. The mental health of running is huge. I just want to build a lifelong skill, and I want these kids to be just like Cheyanne — a standard for our school. I want these kids to also bring in the community.”