Norwich Free Academy sophomore Jawaun Johnson didn’t think track was for him. He already had other things to do during the spring, such as lifting with his football teammates. And all that sprinting as part of track conditioning? Nope. Not for him.

Johnson eventually relented after a persistent sales pitch from Marquis Ward, one of his football teammates, and NFA indoor track coach Tom Teixeira.

Johnson quickly questioned his judgment.

“You’d have to run up hills and all the way back,” Johnson said. “Run on the football field. You’d have to do a sprint (on it), then turn back and run another sprint, and then up another hill.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I don’t know if I’m going to keep up with this.”

Johnson did and emerged as one of the state’s best sprinters. He won the 100 and 200 meters at the CIAC Class LL outdoor track and field championships and was runner-up in the 100 at New Englands, all of which make him a deserving winner of The Day’s 2015 All-Area Track & Field Athlete of the Year honor.

Not bad for someone who never competed in track.

“I stuck with it and the outcome was pretty good,” Johnson deadpanned.

Teixeira had heard a lot about Johnson at school. It was kind of hard not to after Johnson sliced through the Eastern Connecticut Conference during football season. He ran for 1,485 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first year as the Wildcats’ starting quarterback and helped them to the Class LL-Large final.

Teixeira took over as head coach of the boys' and girls' indoor track teams during the winter and assisted Matt Gitkind, the first-year coach of the boys’ outdoor team.

“We had a solid group of distance runners,” Teixeira said. “We didn’t have much in the way of sprinters, although we did have Andris Vital, who won the 100 at the State Open last year.

“All year, the talk in school was, ‘Jawaun’s fast, Jawaun’s fast, Jawaun’s fast’. I talked to Marquis and said, ‘You have to get him to come out. We have to see what he looks like.’”

It didn’t take long for Johnson to prove his quickness as he beat Vital in the 200 early in the season.

“I was shocked,” Teixeira said. “I figured he’d be football fast, but I still thought Andris would be the No. 1 guy. The first time he beat Andris, my jaw kind of dropped.”

Johnson won the 100 and 200 at the ECC championship meet and ran on the winning 4x100 relay team. He followed that up with first-place finishes in the 100 (11.04) and 200 (22.12) at the Class LL meet.

“I was pretty shocked,” Johnson said. “I just gave it my best.”

Johnson didn’t do as well at the State Open. He finished sixth in the 100 (11.21) and didn’t run the 200.

“I wasn’t smart as the day before (June 7), I went to a football camp at Boston College,” Johnson said. “I thought if I took an ice bath that I’d be fine. I hurt my knee (at the Open) and I came in sixth place … I went to the trainer (on site) and she said that I had a loose patella. The trainer at school said that was not the case, but also said that it was good not to run the risk of injury.”

Johnson shook off the injury quickly as he ran the 100 in 10.85 seconds at New Englands five days after the Open. And after all his doubts, he’s now sold on track.

“Yeah, I’m going to do indoor,” Johnson said.

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED

The Day's 2015 All-Area Boys' Track & Field Team

Player of the Year – Jawaun Johnson (NFA) 

400 meters – Matt Prue (Stonington)

800 – Daelon Morgan (Fitch)

1,600 – Connor Gralton (NFA)

3,200 – Vann Moffett (East Lyme)

110 hurdles, 300 hurdles – Greg Atkinson (East Lyme)

4x100 relay – NFA (Khaleed Exum-Strong, R.J. Darby, Jawaun Johnson, Andris Vital)

4x400 relay – East Lyme (Jared Ayers, Josh Lopez, Evan Tryon, Brandon Dinsmore)

4x800 relay – East Lyme (Colvert Moore, Jarett Mirecki, Vann Moffett, Brandon Dinsmore)

High jump – Konstantinos Lanis (East Lyme)

Pole vault – Josh Leffingwell (East Lyme)

Long jump – Michael Lopes (Ledyard)

Triple jump – Jelani Lucas (New London)

Shot put – Eli Rosario Vega (Fitch)

Discus – Jared Stanland (Old Lyme)

Javelin – Zach Rand (Grasso Tech)

Utility – Brian Robinson (Fitch)