MU8SKEGON TWP. - Some of the more elite high school athletes live and breathe their sports.
They train year-round, learn from top-level coaches, and travel long distances for challenging competition.
They sacrifice a lot of normal teen things, like dating, hanging out with friends and working part-time, to focus on being great.
Reeths-Puffer’s Jaxon Allen is definitely not like them.
In fact, he came very close to skipping his senior season of cross country this fall, and not because of an injury or some petty gripe.
He’s just a normal kid with diverse interests, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to commit the necessary time and energy for another season, regardless of his obvious talent.
Jaxon Allen (right) with R-P cross country coach Darin Grant.
Spending time with his buddies and his girlfriend had shot up on his priority list. Working on cars and racing them (which he has done once so far) was another point of interest. Earning money in a part-time job had also become important.
“Everyone likes money, and I have bills," Allen said. "I have to pay for car insurance and phone bills. Some kids don’t have to, but I do.”
Friends and family reminded Allen that he’s more than just an average runner, that he could accomplish big things this season, and he would never have another chance.
That included his aunt, Carrie Allen-Deiters, who did her best to convince him to pursue his best sport for one more season.
“She’s one of my biggest fans, and she said I would regret it,” Allen said.
Luckily Allen listened to everyone, and he’s very glad he did.
He reached one big goal this fall when he finally won the individual championship at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Meet.
He finished third at regionals last week while running the best time of his career, and qualified for the state finals for the third straight year.
Now he has a real chance to accomplish his biggest goal – securing All-State status at the MHSAA Division 1 Finals in Brooklyn, Michigan on Saturday.
Allen realizes all of that would have been left on the table if he had not competed this season.
“Last year I had a sprained ankle that set me back and I wasn’t able to be city champ,” he said. “I really wanted that, and I really want to be All-State too. Right now I’m on the bubble for that.”
Overcoming a late start
Allen’s indecision about competing this year – along with the time he spent working last summer – kept him from training very much in the months leading up to the season.
Getting a jump on things is usually a must for runners who want to reach top form by the end of the season.
The results were predictable early on. Allen did well, but not as great as he could have if he had started sooner.
In the first meet of the season, for instance, R-P’s Kye Grant finished first overall in the race with a time of 17:20. Allen was more than a minute slower, coming in at 18:21.
But all of that started to change around midseason, when Allen started hitting his pace and again became the Rockets’ top runner in every meet.
He finished 10th overall out of 196 runners at the prestigious MSU Spartan Invitational in East Lansing and won a medal.
He was sixth out of 111 runners at the Allendale Invitational and won a medal.
Allen had a great day at the Grand Rapids South Christian Invitational, taking first place in the Eagle Division with a time of 16:10.
He finished second individually at the O-K Green conference meet with a time of 16:33.
His most enjoyable day so far was at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Meet, where he won the individual championship with a time of 16:12, easily beating Whitehall’s Stewart Waters, who finished second at 16:19.
He also helped Reeths-Puffer win the boys team championship, narrowly beating second place Fruitport by four points.
“Coming out and having fun is honestly the main goal, and with winning comes more fun,” Allen said after his big day at the city meet.
Allen peaked at last week’s Division 1 regional meet in Allendale, where he finished third overall with a career-best time of 15:53 and qualified again for the state finals.
R-P cross country coach Darin Grant noted that Allen ran a 15:59 on the same Allendale course a few weeks earlier, when it was actually a bit shorter.
“He really set himself up well for the state finals,” Grant said.
Despite the slow start to the season, Allen said he felt confident that he would regain his full form by the time the big meets rolled around.
He’s one of those rare athletes who can excel without being obsessed with preparation, and that’s exactly what he did.
“I knew it would take a few weeks to get back into the flow,” he said. “I’ve learned a bunch of stuff about how to run races. It was just about getting the work in.”
‘You don’t question Jaxon Allen’
Under normal circumstances, coaches get frustrated with athletes like Allen.
But Grant has learned over the past four years to take Allen as he comes and trust his talent and drive.
He didn’t panic when he learned that Allen was thinking about skipping cross country this fall.
“I always tell the kids they should have balance in their lives, and it should never be all about running,” Grant said. “I told Jaxon I would be sad if he didn’t run, but I never tried to push him.
“I did ask him to seek advice from other people he trusted and listen to what they had to say. Thankfully some people spoke wisdom and reminded him that this was his only chance to play high school sports.”
Grant would have been concerned if any other runner had gone light on training over the summer, but he knew Allen had more than enough talent to make up for lost time.
“I have learned over the past four years, you don’t question Jaxon Allen,” Grant said. “When he decides to do something, he makes it happen. He has the mental fortitude and he’s very competitive.
“He taught me to never count him out. He always taught me to count him in.”
Grant thinks Allen has a real shot to accomplish his goal of earning All-State honors, which go to the top 30 runners in the state finals – but said he will have to run a great race to do it.
Allen finished 58th as a sophomore and 43rd last year.
“These are the best of the best athletes in the state of Michigan, all coming together, 250 or 300 of them, just in Division 1,” Grant said. “The group of runners is so congested at the start of the race that it’s difficult to move. You don’t have the middle and slower runners falling toward the back. They are all lights out fast.
“Jaxon knows that he has to get out pretty quick, but not so fast that his body is super fatigued over the last two miles.”
Going out his own way
While Allen went back and forth about running cross country as a senior, he said Saturday's race will definitely be his last at the scholastic level.
He would probably qualify for some college athletic scholarship money, but he has no intention of going to college.
Allen has spent the last two years learning welding skills at the Muskegon Area Career Tech Center and said that’s the direction he’s headed after graduation.
“College really isn’t for me,” he said. “I know I’m smart enough to do it, but it’s really not my cup of tea. I like welding. I’ve really fallen in love with it.”
With no more cross country in his future, Allen is determined to leave it all on the track on Saturday.
Tate Bradley and Allen (in front) with medals, and their teammates behind them.
“It’s going to be all out,” he said. “It’s my last high school race. I may take about 100 meters to get comfortable, but after that I will be moving through the pack.”
If Allen has one regret about the state finals, it’s that none of his teammates will be with him this time around.
As a sophomore he went to state with R-P’s Klay Grant, a great runner who went on to compete in college. Last year he went with teammate Kye Grant, Klay’s younger brother.
This year the hope was that Kye Grant, now a junior, and Tate Bradley, a senior, would qualify for state with Allen, but both had disappointing days at regionals and fell short.
“I wish they were going with me,” Allen said. “They deserve it just as much as I do, but once you’re on that track, it’s your race,” Allen said.
Allen, Bradley and Kye Grant with medals after a successful meet.
Coach Grant noticed how much Allen cares about his teammates in the moments after the regional race last week.
“Tate Bradley had a hard race, and as I was coming back to check on the guys, I saw that he was pretty emotional,” the coach said. “Then I saw Jaxon jogging over and embracing him, so I just kind of stepped back.
“Jaxon is not just this athlete who has the drive to be great. He takes care of his teammates, as well.”
Allen was demonstrating once again that there are more important things than competing and winning - like being there for a friend in a down moment.
“I just realize it’s not always about me,” he said. “I just wanted to help cheer him up.”
