By Douglas Maxwell Myer, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – Jackson Southard is a budding student athlete who has accomplished much already at Shrewsbury High School (SHS) as a gifted cross country and track runner. Over the past year, he broke his school’s course record for cross country running with a time of 16:23 ratio surpassing the previous record of 16:28. He also attended the Amherst Invitational where he completed a 5K race in less than 16 minutes for the first time. This fall, he will serve as captain of SHS’s cross country team.
Southard was born in San Francisco and lived there for three years before moving with his family to first Amherst and then Shrewsbury. He looked up to his father and uncle who inspired him to try running as a sport. His father never ran competitively but loves running and his uncle was a former athlete who ran for Bridgewater State College.
Southard began running on and off during his spare time in seventh grade before attempting track in the spring. Then in eighth grade he took part in both cross country and track.
As a freshman at Shrewsbury High School, he met his new coaches – Jim Smith for cross country and Kurt Gustafson for track.
“Both played a huge role in encouraging my love for running and desire to improve,” he said. “They are able to make it enjoyable but are also always pushing me to improve.”
As he continued to learn and grow as an athlete, his coaches recognized his talent.
“Distance runners are a special breed,” Smith said. “Jackson is thoroughly emerged in the sport, loves it, and is doing very well.”
Cross country is Southard’s personal favorite sport because of the longer distance and variety of courses that are offered to him.
“I think my greatest strength as a runner is my own drive and desire to try and win,” he said. “I believe that I’m capable of pushing myself and running through pain.”
He said that he feels that the mental aspect of running is the most challenging part of his sport, as well as the ability to keep pushing yourself after going a mile or two even if you feel like you’re ready to collapse. The spring track season was a challenging stretch for him as he was coming off of an injury that caused him to miss nearly the entire winter indoor track season.
Southard believes in always serving as a good example to others by putting in the work and encouraging everyone to reach their full potential. This defining characteristic was one element that got him elected as a captain for this fall’s cross country season, an achievement of which he was very proud. He is looking forward to leading his younger teammates, helping them improve with running as fast as they can be, and preparing them to lead the team once they are juniors or seniors. He is eager, he said, to share more experiences with his teammates who have also become very good friends.
In the future he plans to run in college and would also like to embark on running the Boston Marathon at some point in the coming years..
“The thing that I love the most about my sport is being able to see all the hard work I put in training payoff,” he said.
