Dana Johnson by Evie Fordham

Dana Johnson, Class of 2014, at her Letter of Intent Signing
Dana Johnson, a 19-year-old senior, has run cross-country at Wake Christian since her middle school years. Now, Dana has the opportunity to run cross-country at the college level on Louisburg College’s team. After she applied to the college, Dana was informed of Louisburg’s new cross-country program. The coach was impressed by her times and urged her to consider joining the college’s cross-country program.

Dana says that she is very excited about “running my way into a scholarship! I have always wanted to play a sport in college like my dad did. It’s a dream come true.”

Dana loves cross-country running and “the feeling of a great run, when nothing hurts and you just float along.” She says that the most important lesson she learned from her time running at Wake Christian Academy was to “never give up.” WCA is excited that Dana will bring the important lessons she learned on the team to Louisburg’s cross-country program, and we wish her the very best of luck in the future.

*Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, March 5, two WCA athletes signed NCAA letters of intent – Dana Johnson in Cross-Country with NCJCC Division I member Lousburg College, and Beau Barger in Football at Division II member Lenior-Rhyne University. (Read more about Beau Barger here.)

Dana is the first WCA women’s cross-country runner in several years to be invited to run in the NJCAA Division. She lettered four years in Varsity Cross-Country at WCA and began her running career in seventh grade. She spent six years playing basketball for WCA, with the last two years being a Varsity Basketball player. She also plays defense for the Varsity Soccer team with a four-year Varsity career. Louisburg College Head Women’s Cross-Country Coach, Jay Koloseus, commented, “I am immensely excited about Dana joining Louisburg Cross-Country next year. Her accomplishments in high school show how great of an athlete she is and the amazing potential she has. Dana has an incredible amount of natural talent and her best days of running surely lay ahead. As she makes the transition from a multi-sport athlete to dedicate herself to distance running, I am certain she will grow into an awesome student athlete in college. I cannot wait to start working with her and see just how great of a runner she can be.” Dana, an Alegebra II Honors Award recipient and member of the Music Honor Society, is interested in pursuing a career related to health.