Conner boys’ cross country coach Ian Johnstone earned 2021-2022 Section II Coach of the Year honors from the National Federation of State High School Associations Coaches Association.
During the 2022 cross country season, the Cougars won the 3A Region 5 Championship and 3A State Championship. It marked the second year in a row that the Cougars have won the state championship and the third year in a row they have won the regional title.
The NFHS has been recognizing coaches through a comprehensive awards program since 1982. Johnstone, along with Ballard softball coach Alan Jones became KHSAA’s 37th and 38th NFHS Section II Coach of the Year selections since 2001-02.
Johnstone teaches biology at the high school. The fall accomplishment for the team helped Conner become the 30th boys program in KHSAA history to earn multiple state championships.
The NFHS Coaches Association has an advisory committee composed of a chair and eight sectional representatives. The sectional committee representatives evaluate the state award recipients from the states in their respective sections and select the best candidates for the sectional award in each sport category. The Committee then considers the sectional candidates in each sport, ranks them according to a point system, and determines a national winner for each of the 20 sport categories, the spirit category, and two “other” categories.
