Montgomery County graduate Dawson McCown enjoyed an outstanding running season at Maryville University that included 10 personal records, his first victory in the collegiate level and another trip to the dean’s list.

McCown set six personal records in the track season and four in cross country for the Saints. He also made the dean’s list in both fall and spring semesters at the St. Louis school.

Now, he’s hoping for bigger and better things for the next two years.

“These two years have flown by. I feel like I need to just sit back and enjoy every second I have because once it’s over, there’s no going back,” said McCown, who graduated from MCHS in 2022. “I just hope I give it everything I have and have no regrets over my college career.”

McCown ended his sophomore track season with a personal-best time of 3:58.19 in the 1,500 at the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship meet on May 4 in Kirksville, coming up one second short of breaking the school record time of 3:57.15 that was set by Josh McKinley in 2016.

“It was a good race that I got the PR, but I also got to see like, ‘That’s what is going to take in order to place at conference and get to where I wanted to go.’ I think it was a good experience in the sense of it was a good day that I PR’ed, but I also learned what I need to keep working on,” McCown said.

Also during the outdoor season, McCown also set personal records in the 400 and 800 at the Washington University Invite on March 30. During the indoor track season, McCown hit personal marks in the 500, 1,600 and the 1-mile run. In cross country, he ran personal-best times in 5,000, 6,000, 8,000 and 10,000 meters.

“I was very fortunate to be able to PR in cross country and track in all of my event categories,” McCown said. “I had no complaints. It was really good. I’m hoping that I can build off of that and keep improving.”

McCown earned his first victory in the college level on Jan. 20, winning the 1,500 in a personal-best 4:31.74 at the Illinois College Snow Bird Invite.

“I felt really good because I felt like last year I left a lot left in that race,” McCown said. “To come back the next year and not leave anything left, it felt good.”

McCown ended his cross country season in a 10,000-meter time of 33 minutes at the NCAA Division II Midwest Region championship meet on Nov. 4 at Evansville, Ind., improving last year’s regional time by five minutes.

“It was very good,” McCown said. “Our coaches believe in running our fastest at the end. I felt like throughout the season, I had so much left. But I felt like I couldn’t touch it or I couldn’t do it because the training wasn’t there. It was good that at the end of the year they were correct. I felt really good in that race and I was able to get a big PR.”

McCown battled with senior Caleb Pyle, who is from Bolivar, for the top spot on the cross country team for most of the season.

“We went back and forth,” McCown said. “It was a good learning experience because he’s been doing this a lot longer than I have. Because he was in his fifth year. I was able to learn a lot from him.”

McCown made the dean’s list for both fall and spring semesters at Maryville for the second straight year.

“I feel like I chose Maryville for academics and then running,” said McCown, who is majoring in occupational therapy. “I feel like it’s so important that you have a balance of both. If you don’t have your grades in check, then you’re not going to compete because of the rules. I think it’s important to make sure that you’re committed in all areas of your life in the sense of committed into the classroom and committed to the track and committed to any out external commitments basically.”

McCown completed his second season with the Maryville cross country and track program. Last year, he earned the Newcomer Award in the outdoor season.