Joe Jackson High School Standout

Half a mile into the 2005 state meet, disaster has already struck. Sophomore Joe Jackson, a first year runner on Hilliard Darby’s regional championship team, has lost his shoe. Spiked feet flash by, and the rough terrain of the Scioto Downs course brutalizes Joe’s sole. Over two and a half miles remain to be run. Never looking back, Joe soldiers on. Barefoot or not, there’s a race to be run.
That’s Darby’s star runner for you. “If you’re not competitive then you’re not going to get very far in this sport,” he says. “Just in general, I love competing. That's what keeps me going in my races and in life.” From that first season on the team, a sophomore year highlighted by team titles in the OCC and at the district and regional levels, Joe’s competitiveness has been more than evident to everyone in central Ohio. Nothing seems to slow him down for long, and he’s turned heads and impressed competitors and spectators alike over the past three seasons. “Joe Jackson? Whoa,” says Mustafa Ahmed, a state qualifier from Westland. “He’s good.”
Joe wasn’t born into a pair of running shoes, though. Like many, Joe got his start on the soccer fields of central Ohio. It wasn’t until middle school that Joe got into running, and even then he didn’t foresee himself becoming a distance star. “I thought I was going to be a sprinter,” he says of that first year on the track team. “I wasn't very fast so they threw me into long distance. I couldn't believe I was really going to run the mile at my first meet of the season.”

Darby XC:

“My running hero,” Joe claims, “would have to be my coach, Jon Agresti, because he's shown me a lot of just about everything I know about running throughout my high school career. Agresti was a pretty good steeplechaser and cross country runner for OSU. I really look up to my coach as a running hero.”

Moderate success inspired Joe to continue running, but soccer remained close to his heart. Splitting his time between running and soccer, Joe made his high school cross country debut while balancing both sports in a schedule that left him with little free time. Even so, he had immediate success at the 5k cross country distance. It seemed that the longer the race became, the better Joe fared; the soccer player wasn’t a bad runner at all. His runs at leagues and into the post-season helped to propel Darby to its finest cross country season ever. Then, Joe got serious.
To kick off his junior year, Joe broke the sixteen minute barrier in his first race of the season. “Running under

sixteen...was a goal of mine, except I really wasn't planning on having to set all new goals after the first race,” he says of the start to that season. Rewriting the Darby record book, Joe made a habit of running in the fifteen’s every time out on the cross course. He took the runner-up spot at the highly competitive Midwest Meet of Champions on his home course, and the junior runner was beginning to close in on the top runners in the region and even the state. Prospects were looking good for Darby’s star harrier. Then, injury struck.

Joe's PR's:

800m: 2:02
1600m: 4:30
3200m: 9:47
5k XC: 15:14

“I was training harder than necessary towards the beginning of the year which led to a stress fracture towards the end of the cross country season,” Joe explains. With his phenomenal fitness base, Joe was able to maintain enough of an edge to qualify for the state meet in cross country, but his potential was greatly dimmed by injury. A forty second place finish at the state meet did little to show Joe’s full potential, and then injury lingered throughout the winter.
“I didn't get back to training for the track season last year until the third week in March,” he says of his slow rehab from his lingered cross country injury. “I did a lot of aqua jogging while I was injured because it kept my cardio up while I was giving my legs the time to properly heal as the doctor instructed.” The pay-off for all of that hard cross training in the off-season came slowly, as Joe struggled in the first few meets of his junior track season. Once he got a handful of races under his belt, though, the strength of those days in the pool paid off. Despite a winter’s worth of training shortened by injury, Joe qualified for his first state track meet, joining teammate Jay McKenna in making the trip to state in the 3200m.

The lessons of the past have prepared Joe for his senior year. “This year, the cross country season has been building in a progressive way,” he says. After “putting in the miles all summer long,” Joe has continued to build on his strengths. “I really wanted to progress into the season to prevent injury later on in the season.” Injury-free, the senior has finally shown what he’s capable of. College coaches are calling, and Joe is beating back all-comers. With a dominant senior season behind him, Joe now heads into the state meet at Scioto Downs as an individual OCC and district champion.
But going back to that first state meet, to the image of Joe running barefoot amongst the state’s best, sums up Joe’s running career rather succinctly. Putting everything on the line every time that he laces up his spikes, Joe has met more than his share of rocky ups and downs. Nothing has worked out quite the way he may have hoped, but nothing has swayed his utter belief in himself. Nothing has slowed him down for long. Like the phoenix rises from the ashes, Joe has returned from each setback only to reestablish himself as the top distance runner in central Ohio. He now has one final race to prove what he’s capable of. On Saturday morning, Joe Jackson will be toeing the line with the biggest goal yet on his mind.

Pure Guts
Confidence, when partnered with hard training, can carry a runner far. It takes an innate belief in oneself to bring out the best in a competitor, especially in cross country where the goal is to push oneself to the limit. Pain is a part of the game, and the successful runner is the one who can best focus through the discomfort. Amongst his peers, Joe Jackson is a mental giant.
“When I am racing, I try to stay focused on what I came out there to accomplish and that is to go out and compete to the best of my ability,” he says of his mental approach to the sport. “I try to visualize my race, like where to put myself in the first mile and when to start moving, but I've come to realize that it’s sometimes best not to go in with a game plan because if you get set on it and something changes in the race then you’re basically now panicking. And personally, I just say to myself I'll go out here, run to the front, and hold on to the leaders as long as possible.”

Coaches/Parents - Do you have any standout athletes that go the extra mile? Spotlight them at the Columbus Running Company! During the season, we will periodically showcase athletes in our high school section within the store and on this webpage. Nominations can be taken through our Contact Us page, through info@columbusrunning.com, or by simply giving us a call. We will then briefly interview you and the selected athlete.

Nominations do not have to be the fastest athletes - nominate those who demonstrate qualities such as a strong work ethic or leadership skills or have something unique that sets them apart.

The sport of running is a great one. We'd like to help glamorize it in the eyes of the youth who are the future of running. These athletes deserve recognition!