Coach and athlete with Plainville ties doing big things at Colby Community College

Two people—one a coach and the other an athlete—both with ties to the community of Plainville, are doing big things for a cross country program in western Kansas.

Brady Johnson, head cross country and assistant track coach at Colby Community College, along with Chayse Mc-Cullough, a member of the CCC Cross Country Team, are both former graduates of Plainville High School.

Brady, a standout runner for Plainville during his high school days, graduated in 2012 from Plainville High, while Chayse graduated just last May.

The men’s team, consisting of seven runners—all international runners with the lone exception being Chayse—won the 2021 KJCCC/Region VI Championship on Saturday, October 30, at the Meadow Lake Golf Course in Colby and earned a trip to the 2021 NJCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships in Richmond, Va., where they finished third, this past Saturday, November 13. Bringing home the third-place trophy was the highest finish for a CCC cross country team in program history.

In cross country, the team with the lowest score wins, therefore, it truly is a team effort. The top five runners on a team score, and the sixth and seventh runners work as misplacers for other teams. The goal of the sixth and seventh guys is to try and get in front of the top five from other teams.

Five of the runners on the Colby team finished in the top 20 and they accomplished the feat this time with a roster comprised of freshmen.

Prior to signing with Colby, Chayse was actively involved in many activities while in high school. He competed in wrestling his freshman year, and cross country and track all four years, and was even a member of the Forensics team.

He qualified for State Cross Country all four years—placing 34th his freshman year. Unfortunately he got the flu and was unable to compete hi sophomore year, but he came back strong to place sixth his junior year, and ninth his senior season.

“Chasye has been a great addition to our team and has been a really enjoyable person to have around. He’s been really motivated and always comes to practice ready to work hard,” said Coach Johnson. “Typically, it takes some time to build trust with new athletes, and for them to buy into our training and what we do here. But with Chayse, he’s been 100% in since he arrived and I think he has actually helped the other athletes buy in sooner than usual,” Johnson added.

As a freshman in track at Plainville, Chayse placed 14th at State in the 3,200m run and was a sixth-place medalist his senior season.

His mother, Carrie Van Schuyver of Plainville, is proud of her son and what he has accomplished so far.

“He has more heart than anyone you will see out there. He worked his butt off to get to where he is,” she said.

Carrie shared he is very disciplined—running up to 10 miles every day during the summer.

“ I have never seen someone so determined as him. His heart, though...he wants it, and he works hard for it,” she added.

Coach Johnson has been pleased with the improvement he has seen in Chayse this year. “I believe Chayse has already improved so much in just the few months he’s been here. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, since he’s running an 8k cross country race instead of 5k, but the fact that he’s coming through that 5k split faster than he ran in high school, and is still going for another 3k shows the growth he’s made in such a short time,” said Johnson.

“I think it is something I’ve always had with growing up in Plainville,” Chayse said.

Everything was always competitive between his friends, whether it be backyard football, or the board game Monopoly.

“We always wanted to be the best, and that mentality carried over to running or anything else I endured,” he added.

Coach Brady Johnson has had success follow him wherever he’s been— both as an athlete and now as a coach.

Following high school where he was a state champion in cross country and track, Johnson signed with Wichita State University where he earned several All-Missouri Valley Conference honors, was an NCAA qualifier in the 500m and 10,000m, and currently holds the school record in the 500m and cross country 8000m races. He is currently No. 2 in WSU history in the 10,000m.

Having redshirted one year at WSU, Johnson still had a year of eligibility left as a fifth-year senior, and ended up as a grad transfer at the University of Portland (Ore.) where he was the top finisher on a team that placed 13th at the NCAA Division I National Cross Country Championships. He was an outdoor track West Regional qualifier in the 5,000m and 10,000m, and ran the school’s fifth-best time in the 3,000m.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 2017 at the University of Portland. While coaching the Pilot runners that year, Johnson also worked at Nike at the World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., as a running specialist.

Before arriving in Colby, Johnson served as an assistant cross country and track coach at Fort Hays State University for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. During that time, he had an active role in aiding a 1,500m NCAA Div. II national champion, school record-setting and conference champion men’s DMR, a women’s school record holder, and several all-conference athletes.

Since joining CCC in 2019, Johnson helped achieve historic firsts for the program before being cut short by COVID-19. He helped guide Wesley Banguria to the 2019 NJCAA National Cross Country individual title. Banguria is the first male athlete to win the individual national title in program history. He also went on to win the indoor 5,000m national title while setting the NJCAA national record (13:43.29) and clocked the second-best time in NJCAA history for the 3,000m (7:51.59).

Since becoming a part of a successful cross country program led by Johnson, McCullough stated there are three things he’s enjoyed the most:

1. Being on a team with people from so many different places in the world. One runner is from Portugal, Puerto Rico, Wales, and South Africa, and two are from France. “I’m learning new languages and cultures,” he said.

2. The quality of athletes he has for teammates. “Training with such high caliber athletes like the guys on my team makes me push harder in workouts,” he added.

3. Being coached by Brady, and the respect he has for Coach Johnson. “Being ‘coached’ by Brady has been a huge inspiration to me through my running career, and now to be coached by him in college is truly amazing. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to running and he works more than I’ve ever seen a coach work to make sure we get the right workouts and are peaking at the right time.

It’s truly been a blessing to be here,” he said in closing.

It appears the feelings are mutual between the two men, with Coach Johnson stating, “I love having Chayse on the team, and the fact that we’re from the same hometown makes it special.”

Chayse is the son of Carrie Van Schuyver of Plainville and the late Mike McCullough. Dave and Mary Van Schuyver of Plainville are his grandparents.