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Track co-captain Lakeem Johnson (’24) is starting his last season on the track team after running for Robinson for his entire high school career. He spends five days a week at practice and participates in a staggering six events including the 400 meter, 200 meter, 100 meter, long jump, 4 x 800 meter relay, 4 x 400 relay. He follows the legacy paved by his brothers Kassim Johnson (’23) and Juluan Johnson (’22) who were both past track captains, and enjoys pushing himself to his limits on the track.
Q: What strengths do you have that make you a great athlete and captain?
A: I’m always willing to push through the pain no matter what and give it my all. I feel like I’m just a leader in trait and I like to lead people to do the right things and make themselves better. Helping others improve is the best part of being captain.
Q: Who is your biggest inspiration for track?
A: Definitely my brothers, they always pushed me and told me that “It doesn’t matter who’s in front of you, you just got to push past them” and “It doesn’t matter how fast someone is you can beat them if you just put in the effort.” Doing a good job being captain and an overall athlete just feels like I’m holding myself accountable to my brothers.
Q: Are there any goals that you hope to accomplish in your senior year? Any goals that you have already accomplished?
A: Right now, my only goal is to make it to states and stand on the podium. Last year I was really fighting towards my goal of breaking 0.52 in the 400 meter and I broke it in districts at 51.37 and then broke it again in regionals. This really showed me how fast I can go and without out that I don’t think I would’ve PR-ed in the 400 last Saturday at Nash Higgins (track meet).
Q: What inspired you to do track outside of other sports?
A: Well, I do football too but for track I have always loved the feeling of competition and racing. In middle school, I ran the 400 and it always felt so good getting first place.
Q: What’s your biggest struggle when it comes to track?
A: It’s really the mental part about it, trying to push aside the pain, when it’s so easy to stop pushing. I had a real low point when I was injured last year and tore my MCL. I was out for two months and had to wear a brace half the time and could barely move my knee. It was hard to start running again and accept that it set me back and I wasn’t going to be running the times as I was before right away.
Q: Do you plan on continuing track in college?
A: Yes, I am going to continue running in college, I’m most likely going to run at University of Missouri. It really depends on the schools that are interested. I’ve been scouted by some D2 schools.
Q: What is your favorite memory from track?
A: Definitely states last year, it like showed me a whole new perspective of how fast people are and how much I have to work to get there.
Q: What’s your practice regimen like?
A: I like to warm my body up before practice actually starts to just, you know, get the blood flowing. Then for practice we do like 300 or 400 meter repeats and it’s really a mental game to see how far you can go and how long you can keep pushing. I try to stay like two seconds under everyone else and it’s really draining to just constantly race against yourself. You just gotta keep pushing no matter what.
