Two seniors at St. Mike’s double up on sports this season
Two St. Michael’s seniors spend their final year playing two sports at once
You’re only 17 years old once, right?
The exuberance of youth can be a wonderful thing to watch, especially when it comes to challenging the limits of what a body can do. For St. Michael’s seniors Justice Johnson and Hayden Lee, they are putting that to the test this fall as they both tackle the challenge of playing two sports at a high level.
They are key components of the boys soccer team, which is off to a promising 3-2 start, but they didn’t want their senior year to consist of only that. Lee has played wide receiver and defensive back for the football team for the past two seasons, while Johnson took to the hills of Northern New Mexico this year as he runs part time for the cross-country program.
The tie that binds them is soccer, of course, and they want to see St. Michael’s reach the Class 1A/3A State Tournament after an injuryplagued 2017 season left the Horsemen on the outside looking in. Johnson and Lee do it from opposite ends of the field — Johnson is a striker who already has two goals on the season, while Lee is a midfielder who helps anchor a defense that has allowed just seven goals so far on the season.
Their contributions do not end there. Lee had a 9-yard touchdown catch and 33 receiving yards, plus a pair of tackles in a 59-18 loss to Taos on Aug. 25, while Johnson ran an impressive sixth place at the Del Valdez Invitational at Española Valley on the same day.
The challenge of playing two sports intrigued both of them enough to give it a shot. Lee decided to do it last year, adding that a St. Michael’s-Santa Fe High game as a freshman put the thought of playing Friday Night Lights in his head.
“I always think of the goal ahead,” Lee said. “If I can play the two sports that I love at the same time, then I want to do it. I’m going to go all in. I just want to thank these coaches for letting me do it.”
Johnson wanted to run cross-country last season, but soccer injuries prevented him from doing that. He started the season healthy, but is now dealing with a nagging hamstring issue that kept him out of the last two matches of Taos’ Sangre de Cristo Classic on Saturday. Johnson said he dealt with a similar injury late in the track season in the spring, but felt it had healed.
“It was just more from the sprinting during the first [match] against Santa Fe High [on Aug. 29] that took it over the edge,” Johnson said. “I guess it hadn’t fully healed. I have to take extra care of it.”
Lee and Johnson acknowledge that staying healthy can be tricky, and they already can feel the effects of playing two sports.
Lee said his upper body is more sore after a football game, while his legs take the beating after a soccer match. He added that he feels more tired during the day on average.
“You wake up tired, you’re eating lunch tired, you go to sleep tired,” Lee said. “It’s the second week and I already have a nose cold. [Justice] has it, too. It’s one of those things that you kinda expected when you asked for it.”
They also expect schedules to conflict. Johnson and Lee spent last weekend in Taos, while the football team went to Portales on Friday and the cross-country team traveled to the UNM Invitational on Saturday.
Lee said when he missed football practice Aug. 29 to play against Santa Fe High, which was a make-up contest from a week earlier, the coaching staff informed him that he wouldn’t make the trip to Portales, which Lee accepted.
“The coaches said, ‘We need you, but because you missed that day, you can’t go to the Portales game,’ ” Lee said. “I was like, ‘OK, if I can’t go, best of luck to you, and I’ll go to soccer up in Taos.’ ”
Lenny Gurule, the Horsemen head cross-country coach, said the scheduling conflict is not as bad for his program. He recognizes that Johnson will make some meets, but not on the days in which there is a soccer match. As for practices, Johnson goes to cross-country practice Mondays and Wednesdays, while the rest of the time is spent with the soccer team.
“Soccer is Justice’s priority, and I get that,” Gurule said. “So, we try not to put too much on him. He will run at the meets in which he doesn’t have soccer. It’s not as complicated.”
Johnson, though, admits that running cross-country is really training to prepare him for his other favorite sport — track and field. He came in second in his favorite race, the 800 meters, for the past two years, and it spurred him to try to get in more training to prepare for one final run at a state title.
“It was one of the biggest reasons for me wanting to join cross-country, just thinking about what I can do at state and winning a state title,” Johnson said. “I love the environment of that whole race and everything.”
That’s getting a little ahead of the calendar, though.
For now, they have two sports focus on, and they want give it their all in both.
After all, you’re only 17 once.