It didn’t take Jacob Mohesky long to qualify for state in cross country for the first time.
The Compass Academy junior returned to the sport this year for the first time since eighth grade and will be competing at the Class 3A state championship race this Saturday in Round Rock at Old Settler’s Park.
Mohesky punched his ticket to state after finishing fifth with a time of 16 minutes and 16.70 seconds at the Region I Championships back last week at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock.
“It’s amazing since I hadn’t run for a couple of years before this year, but I knew since I came back that that was what I wanted to accomplish,” Mohesky said.
During his freshman and sophomore seasons, Mohesky ventured into other sports including football, soccer and track.
Now he just does cross country and track.
He realized earlier this year how much he missed participating in cross country.
“I just missed the feeling that I had when I ran and I had injuries from other sports,” Mohesky said.
He’s made up for lost time, finishing first at seven of the nine meets he’s run in this year.
He said he made the decision to come back to running cross country during this past spring and he already had his goals set for this season including winning district, which he also has accomplished.
“My goals were I wanted to win district,” Mohesky said. “I wanted to finish under 16 minutes, but that’ll come hopefully this weekend.”
However, his ultimate goal was to make it to state.
“It’s been the goal since last March,” Mohesky said. “When coach (Tracy Dunford) talked to me about my goals, I said I want to go to state. Just by looking at my times, I have a good feeling that I’ll run my best race at state.”
At district, which also took place at Mae Simmons Park, Mohesky finished with a time of 16:54.
His time at regionals remains his personal record in the 5K.
He wasn’t lacking confidence going into regionals last week.
“I went in pretty confident,” Mohesky said of the race. “I ran how I knew.”
However, the feeling of making it to state didn’t really hit him until this week.
“It didn’t really click until a couple of days ago,” Mohesky said. “After the (regional) race, it felt like I had another race left. The other day, it hit me that I’ll be running against the best kids in the state.”
However, he knows it’s going to be a challenge at this week’s championships.
“I know it’s going to be a fast race and that the competition is good, but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Mohesky said.
Saturday’s race will take place at 10 a.m.
Dunford talked about how far Mohesky has come in a short amount of time.
“He definitely had to step up his game,” Dunford said. “When he came to me earlier this year and said ‘coach, I want to win district and go to state and medal,’ the one thing he did was honor that commitment. He’s worked hard since this summer. I knew he had a God-given talent and that if he can focus, running will be his sport.”
He’s had no shortage of support from his classmates at Compass Academy this week, getting a send-off ceremony on Thursday.
“It’s amazing,” Mohesky said of the support. “It’s crazy to see all these people and how they’ve looked up to me. I want to make them proud of me.”
