Dawson McCown enjoyed a busy, but outstanding freshman year at Maryville University.

The Montgomery County graduate competed in the cross country and track squads at the NCAA Division II school in St. Louis and was one of the top performers on both teams. He also shined in the classroom, being named on the dean’s list in both fall and spring semesters.

“Maryville was amazing for me,” McCown said.

Now, he’s already looking forward to his sophomore year at Maryville. He plans to return to the school on Aug. 20 and start practicing with the cross country squad.

“Last year, I was there to improve and to learn how to be a college athlete,” McCown said. “This year, I’m ready to do more and get more. I’m just excited. I’m ready to go at it and see all of my hard work pay off.”

McCown was coming off a strong running career at MCHS. He earned all-state medals in both cross country and track. He’s also the school’s record holder in three track events and cross country.

At Maryville, McCown competed in six cross country meets, five indoor track meets and six outdoor track meets. He earned the Saints’ Newcomer Award in the outdoor season.

McCown said he knew going into his freshman year at Maryville that running in college is much different than in high school.

“The main difference from high school to college is the overall competitiveness,” said McCown, who graduated from MCHS in 2022. “High school was very competitive and I didn’t think it could get that much more competitive. Going into my first college race, you could see how competitive every single individual was. The distances are so different. In high school, you have a 5K for cross country. Now, you’re going up to an 8K. At the end of the year, it’s a 10K. It took me a long time to realize it.”

McCown said throughout the cross country and track seasons, he got encouragement from head coach Kayla Kriegel and many of his teammates.

“I was very cautious at first because a lot of things can go wrong in your first year,” McCown said. “But I was gifted enough with amazing coaches and amazing teammates who brought me in and accepted me for who I am. I was able to confidently tell them my goals and they would be like, ‘OK, we can get you those goals. But it’s going to take time.’ There were a lot of times where I would try to go crazy. There were a lot of times where they had to pull me back and tell me, ‘With time, we’ll get there.’ I was just lucky to have such a great team atmosphere.”

McCown said he had to learn how to stay focused in the classroom while competing in both cross country and track.

“I would say it’s like a full-time job,” he said. “I remember multiple times in cross country that we would wake up at 4 a.m. for a regular workout. Then, we would have school all day. Then, we would have to lift afterwards. I had to go to bed probably around 9 a.m. because we had to do the same thing the next day. It’s a job, but I enjoyed it a lot.”

McCown’s best performance in the cross country season came at the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Championships in Kenosha, Wisc., where he finished 166th with a 35:43 under freezing conditions.

“It was really cold, but it was an insane experience because it was snowing and everything,” McCown said.

McCown competed in the distance events in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. His best performance came on April 14, when he finished 13th with a 4:04.58 in the 1,500 at the University of Central Missouri Mule Relays.