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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — Junior Johnathon Reutinger of the West Forsyth boys cross-country team is part of a running family, but he didn’t grow up caring that much about running. 

He had to be coaxed into running by his mother, Ana, who ran track at UNC Asheville. 

“I really only started running in seventh grade,” Johnathon said. “My mom made me do cross-country for the Hanes (Middle School) team. And I did not enjoy running as a little kid. And I really started enjoying it when I joined my high school team in ninth grade. That summer I would go on my own runs and just really embraced it.” 

That preparedness that summer literally gave him a runner’s high. 

“And then I eventually started running with the team closer to August (2022) and that’s where you build the relationships,” Johnathon said. “That’s really when I got my motivation to keep going and to keep kicking.”

In addition, Johnathon’s sisters, Bailey, who graduated from West Forsyth in 2021 and ran at Elon, and Abby, who graduated from West Forsyth this past June and was named the school’s Female Athlete of the Year after competing in cross-country, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field and girls soccer, is now on the women’s cross-country and track-and-field teams as a freshman at Campbell. He also has another sister, Brooke, who is teaching environmental science at Reynolds High School. 

“It would be interesting because I would always hang out with my sisters,” Johnathon said. “So, whatever they would do I would do. But as we grew older, we got into our different things. But we’ve always been into sports.” 

And, obviously, there was the dynamic where he was the only brother.  

“I had my sisters to look up to when I was younger, but being the only guy besides my dad (Scott) it was just kind of me against them a lot of times,” Johnathon said. “So, whenever we would play games, I was the odd one out usually.” 

Despite being pushed into running by his mother, Johnathon did run at Hanes for two years. He then chose to go to and run at West Forsyth, although there was the possibility that he could’ve gone to Atkins.  

“My mom was very adamant (and) into it,” Johnathon said. “But eventually, because I started running on my own and I really started enjoying the sport of it I was more inclined to do it.  

“My freshman year I was trying to focus on football. It didn’t work out, so I ended up doing cross-country. I’m thinking, it’s probably the best decision.” 

For Coach Nathan Newsome, who is the head cross-country, indoor track-an-field and outdoor track-and-field coach at West Forsyth, he knows the Reutingers quite well.  

“I remember him being around as a little bitty fella, you know, when his sisters ran,” Newsome said. “And, you know, my first memory of him is seeing him around like at a practice or at Salem Lake when his sisters were going to be there.” 

“I think he played some other sports. I don’t know if he was much into running. And I remember him coming out as a ninth grader, and I remember thinking, ‘Ooh, I don’t think he wants to be out here at all.’ I think he was being encouraged to participate.” 

Johnathon’s progression continued from those early days. 

“You know, we had like a little 2-mile time trial for like the tryouts and I remember him, he wasn’t able to be there for some reason or something,” Newsome said. “And then, you know to be by the book we needed him to run it. And so, I ran with him to pace him because, you know, I didn’t know to what extent he could do it. And he handled it fine. And that’s probably the last time I’ve been able to keep up with him. 

“As he’s gotten older, I think his interest has grown a little bit more. And he’s kind of morphed into what I think potentially running will likely be his primary objective moving forward.” 

In fact, even now, Johnathon has had to work on his fitness as a runner over the past three seasons.  

“For a cross-country runner, I’m on the heavier side,” Johnathon said.  

It’s perfectly fine for Johnathon to not have the typical runner’s physique. 

“He’s a muscular dude,” Newsome said. “He’s not frail. He has bigger, stronger quads. He’s not your typical string-bean-looking marathon runner. That’s OK. But he is probably cognizant enough to know from a physics equation, ‘If I was maybe not as a heavy maybe that would translate to being faster.’ You don’t have to carry as much encumbrance or weight.” 

Also, after two seasons of playing boys lacrosse for the Titans, Johnathon has decided to give up to sport to focus solely on cross-country and indoor and outdoor track and field.  

“I actually played lacrosse for 11 years,” he said. “So, whenever I was coming in my freshman year it wasn’t more of a, ‘Oh, I’m going to be running, I’m going to be a runner in cross-country.’ It was like, ‘Oh, I’ll do running, but lacrosse is my main sport.’ That’s what I want to do. 

“But that definitely changed.” 

In the end, Johnathon just wanted a change.  

“My freshman year was a really good season,” he said. “I really enjoyed the teammates and everybody as a group, but I came into practices in my sophomore year and I realized I’m not having fun. And I know sports isn’t all about having fun. It’s about building that team, being part of that team and having a strong stance.” 

Last season, the West Forsyth boys lacrosse team went 0-16 overall.  

“But I realized, is this really what I want to do in college?,” Johnathon said. “Is this what I want to do? Is it something that I can enjoy in life? And while I do enjoy the sports of lacrosse I was just finding myself not enjoying the practices, not enjoying the four-hour, four or five hours after school I have to stay for games. And I realized I’d much rather run in college than lacrosse.” 

But, in that back of his head, the family’s love for running won out. 

“My mom, even before I even decided I was going to be a runner, my mom, she’s a heck of a runner — she’s been running probably for a good 30 years,” Johnathon said. “So. she, my older sister, she tried to get my eldest sister to run. And then my second eldest sister, she was a really good runner. And Abby, she of course is a really good runner as well.  

“So, I kind of thought that I could be a good runner. I had the genetics. I had the support. I have, my mother will obviously run with me if I need it. But she definitely pushed me to do the sport, and I’m glad she did because I ended up being quite the runner.” 

Johnathon went from basically being a novice as a freshman runner for the Titans to being a top runner. According to him, he trimmed almost 5 minutes from the beginning of his freshman year to the beginning of his sophomore year. Last year as a sophomore, he started in the 19:20s and finished the season 18:06. 

He ran indoor track and field last winter in the 1,000-meter, the 800, and the mile, but he didn’t run outdoor track and field in the spring because of lacrosse.  

“Going into this cross-country season I was set on being in the top-five (on the boys team at West Forsyth),” Johnathon said. “…I was like, I’m going to be fully serious about this. I’m going to be a good influence, especially for the new freshmen and the sophomores.” 

This season just finished after last weekend’s NCHSAA Class 4-A state cross-country championship at Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. Even though the boys team didn’t qualify, runners Gunnar Douglass and Nick Winsor participated as individuals.  

As for Johnathon Reutinger, he ran Friday Night Lights at Redmon earlier this season at 18:50. According to nc.milesplit.com, at the Central Piedmont 4-A championship on Oct. 16 at Redmon, Johnathan ran 17:59.22. And at the NCHSAA Class 4-A Midwest Regional on Oct. 26, also at Redmon, according to nc.milesplit.com, he ran 17:36.64. 

“He went from somebody I was surprised he even came out for the team as a ninth-grader to being a top-five runner on a very good team, in my opinion,” Newsome said.  

One thing that has held Johnathon back is some leg injuries, but he’s cross-training in swimming to try and combat that.  

“I’ve been relatively healthy these past three years,” he said. “I haven’t had any crazy injuries that took me out for weeks and weeks. So, I think the worst I had was my calf injury, which took me out for a week, week and a half. But even then, I was able to swim, I was able to cross-train, keep my fitness up. So, I didn’t really miss a beat.” 

Now that cross-country season is over, Johnathan is about to embark on the winter indoor season. And, new this school year, he’s planning on running outdoor track and field. Running fulltime should make him even better next season as a senior on the West Forsyth cross-country team. 

“The thing that I have learned is that the kids have to have that intrinsic switch of, ‘Ok, I’m willing to work hard enough to see what my body can handle,’” Newsome said. “And that is not an issue with Johnathon. I have no doubt, as long as he can remain injury-free, he’ll do fantastic.” 

That could only mean a promising season next year as a senior cross-country runner for the Titans. 

“My philosophy is if I’m going to do it the best I can,” Johnathon said. “So, that means doing it all three seasons.”