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If he’s not running through hilly fields and parks in cross-country competitions, hunting might be Caden Leonard’s favorite pastime. A weekend hunting getaway to rustic and picturesque Bend, Texas, seemed a fitting father-son activity with his dad Justin in early December. After all, it was just weeks after the Carroll boys and girls teams participated in the state cross-country meet in Round Rock and the prestigious Nike Nationals in Oregon.
The activity of hunting is almost poetic for this father-son duo considering that Justin kept his Dragon cross-country teams in the hunt for state championships ever since taking over as head coach 16 seasons ago.
A sophomore with two years on the varsity team, Caden has shown he has a certain set of skills, setting his sights on being the best runner on the course each meet.
It can get hectic in the middle of a pack of competitive runners, but Caden’s proving to be a survivor. Maybe it’s from years of learning how to zero in on goals and then take his best shot through exhaustive preparation and training. Those are things he’s heard his dad preach to Carroll athletes long before he was old enough to lace up shoes of his own.
When they’re hunting, the Leonards don’t have to rely on speed to catch the prize, but can focus more on aim and accuracy.
“I'm a sharpshooter, so I drop 'em right where they are,” Caden says of his game-hunting prowess. The runner has shown he’s good at hitting his targets, whether he’s looking through a scope or racing in one of the state’s biggest cross-country events.
A second trip to the Class 6A state meet this past November was all it took for Caden to capture his own first-place individual finish. It’s an impressive feat for any underclassman, especially when you consider the many team and individual accolades within the program.
His time of 15 minutes, 0.10 seconds was four seconds in front of second-place finisher Hudson Haley of Austin Vandegrift. It was also a considerable improvement from his sixth-place showing at state as a freshman.
The push to take first is not easy, but Caden admits the final results of a challenging season have been well worth it.
“I kind of like the pain a little bit,” Caden says. “When you finish the race, you kind of get that feeling of accomplishment, of ‘If I can go through this pain, I should be able to work hard in class or finish an assignment that I don't want to do,’ and things like that.”
Caden isn’t alone in learning these life lessons — Justin has been leading scores of runners to buy into the mindset and level of dedication it takes to win races as a team. Trips to the UIL state meet have become an annual stop on the Dragons’ calendar. This season, the Carroll boys team won its fifth-consecutive state title and its ninth overall championship since capturing its first in 2011, a mere three years after Justin took the reins as coach.
“They push each other… they all make each other better, which is the goal,” Justin says of his team. “Our training sessions this year — they were intense. Sometimes it felt like the practice sessions were more competitive than some of the meets we were in.”
The Carroll girls have finished with the silver medal at state the past four seasons, falling to nemesis Flower Mound each time. But the Lady Dragons took the title in 2019 and have a total of eight championships and 27 consecutive trips to the state meet.
Championship aspirations and expectations are the norm for both the boys and girls teams. That mentality has been ingrained into the cross-country program for years, and falling short of those lofty goals can be disappointing. However, the emphasis from Justin and his staff goes beyond wins and losses at races, as the life lessons he shares give the athletes something to take with them beyond their running days.
“Coach Leonard obviously knows what he's doing. He's been doing this for 20 years and has been successful the whole time, Carroll senior runner and TCU pledge Zach Troutman says.
“What really separates him and what makes him so great is that he doesn't just coach us in cross-country. He's not just throwing out a mileage plan at us and saying, ‘Go do this on your own and you'll be good.’ He's all about teaching character and teaching all the intangibles. He just has such a way with words. He pours his all into this sport.”
Justin’s tenure of impacting Dragon runners is nearing two decades. While former Carroll coach Robert Ondrasek was building a solid running program, Justin assisted the cross-country teams for four years (2004-2008). During that time, Dragon runner Colby Lowe flourished into a superstar in both cross-country and track. Lowe was the Carroll boys’ first and only other top finisher at the state cross-country meet, winning the race in both 2006 and 2007 before moving on to a successful career at Oklahoma State.
Little did Justin know that his son would eventually be the next Carroll runner to accomplish the feat, becoming the first top individual finisher at state in Justin’s era as head coach. There is little doubt that Caden’s exposure to the sport at an early age played a role in his success.
“He's 16 years old, and this is the 16th state cross-country meet he’s been to,” Justin says. “My wife brought him [to state] when he was 6 months old. He's been there a lot, he’s seen it and experienced it a ton.
“When he was little, he would run with me on the course from spot to spot to spot and cheer on the kids. So he kind of knows [the state course at Old Settlers’ Park in Round Rock] probably better than anybody else. He probably knows it better than me, to be honest.”
Surprisingly, Caden did not participate regularly in racing events such as Amateur Athletic Union track as a kid. Justin did not want to push him into running or enroll him in races at an early age because he wanted to avoid any potential burnout in Caden like he’d seen in other young runners. But Caden asked to enter an individual 1-mile race when he was in fourth grade, so they signed him up, and the result was surprising.
“He ran a 5:49 as a fourth-grader, and I looked at my wife and said ‘That's a little different,’” Justin says. “I knew right then that he had some potential and talent. But then I didn’t do [any running] with him for two or three years. I just kind of hung back and was waiting on him to initiate things.”
The opportunity presented itself in spring 2020. Caden was preparing to enter seventh grade, and Justin had extra time on his hands since track and other sports were shelved for the rest of the school year. The two began running every day together, starting out with 1-mile runs and moving up from there.
Caden began middle school playing football, basketball and running track and cross-country, but by the time he entered ninth grade, he narrowed it down to running only in order to stay ahead of the pack.
“As you grow up, you’re able to pick out which sports you're better at and which ones you like more,” Caden says. “But being able to grow up around those [runners] and my dad, I think it helped influence me on making that final decision of just doing straight running.”
Justin admits he no longer goes on one-on-one runs with his son because Caden is too fast now. He also smiled while saying he still holds the upper hand on his son.
“The last time we raced, I beat him. So I'm never going to race him again,” Justin says. “I hung it up, so I'm 1-0 against him forever, for life. You're only as good as your last head-to-head competition.”
That’s not the way Caden sees it, claiming the circumstances skew the situation.
“Well first, it was a 50-yard sprint. And second, I was in seventh grade,” Caden emphasized. “And he hasn't raced me since.
“We had a deal after that race… in my senior year, we were going to go on the track and race the 100-meter sprint. We'll see if he lives up to it. I'll make sure I film too.”
Between now and then, Justin and Caden hope more records are broken and new heights are achieved for the Carroll cross-country program. The boys team has every intention of extending their state title streak, with Caden leading several returning and up-and-coming runners. Perhaps they’ll even notch a national championship at the Nike Cross Nationals in the future. They came close last year, finishing third at the national event in December.
The dedication and passion for a successful program is on display from both the coach and his son. Employing his father’s principles in his own special way, Caden’s commitment and hard work have made a mark on the team at a different level. Together, the Leonard men are ushering in an amazing era for the entire program.