St. Thomas Aquinas’ King Mack and Dillard’s Chris Johnson share a lot of similarities both on and off the track.
The pair will be entering their senior years at their respective schools holding a combined 65 college offers for football. They are two-sport starts however and performed well at the Class 3A state track and field meet at James G. Pressly Stadium, Percy Beard Track in Gainesville.
Both Mack and Johnson led their teams to the podium at the state meet as the top two finishers in the boys team standings and also share the honor of the Sun Sentinel’s Class 4A-3A co-runners of the Year.
Mack won the 400 meters (46.68 seconds), anchored the final leg of the 4×400 relay with a 47.3 split and gave St. Thomas Aquinas the win in the event (3:12.80). He also placed fourth in the 100 (10.64, PR) to give the Raiders first place in the meet by one point over Dillard. Mack was eighth in the 400 at state last year.
“It was straight excitement when we won,” said Mack, who also won a state championship with the Raiders football team last fall. He plays safety and finished with 54 tackles and four interceptions. “Coming into the state [meet], we were supposed finish third. We were the underdogs and we beat the odds. It was the best feeling. Seeing the coaches smiling and happy and my teammates celebrating…it was awesome.
“Going into states [next year] people will think he is going to be big-headed or he thinks it will be a walk in the park,” Mack said of his motivation for next year. “I know there is always somebody working hard to get to where I need to get. I need to work hard to get it back and be a two-time state champion. I would like to do both in college.”
Johnson won the 100 (10.45) and the 200 (20.78) at the state meet. His time is the third-best 200 time in the country. He was fifth in the state last year in the 200 and 13th in the 100.
“It feel good doubling at state because I came in with the right mindset that I wanted to win,” said Johnson, who lost in the 100 for the first time at regionals but rebounded at state. “I just carried that to the track and just ran my race without overthinking and I won.
“Since I hadn’t lost all year in that race, so I just got back to the drawing board and practiced hard until it was time to go to states,” Johnson added. “I had a bad start and had been having bad starts all year. It was really big to come home with the 100 and 200 championships. It’s big for me, but I am going to keep practicing it and keep getting better every day.”
Johnson, who played running back and some wideout for the Panthers, said most of his interest has come on the gridiron.
“Football comes first and track comes second,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if I would do both in college. I am going to go to college for free. There is no question about that.”
