Florida's 2015 Foot Locker Finalists - (L) Steven Cross/(R) Joshua Jacques

Dream becomes reality for Foot Locker Finalist Joshua Jacques

by Ka' Deem Wynn

McAlpine Park, NC – Joshua Jacques woke up at the crack of dawn knowing that he was going to do something great.  He didn’t know what time, nor did he know what place he’d finish. He simply knew that it was time for him to do something worthwhile.

Jacques, regarding tactics and a thinking race, probably ran the race of his life yesterday, and it paid off as he finished 8th in the boys seeded Championship race, with a time of 15:21.  Josh is now a Foot Locker finalist and heading to San Diego for the 37th Annual Foot Locker Nationals.

“It’s been pretty surreal, with all that’s happened,” said an emotional Jacques after the race. “I just wanted to come back after state and prove something, to not anyone in particular, but more myself,  and today I think I actually did that.”

The race got out rather quick with 2014 South Regional Champion Andrew Hunter leading the way in an opening mile split of 4:24, easily separating from the rest of the competitors.

However, Jacques knew that the race would go out at that pace, and he understood that he had to buckle down if he wanted to run well.  That also meant that he had to be physically and mentally ready to hurt and push himself throughout the race.

“I had to focus on pushing up that hill,” said Jacques. “After that, I knew how I would feel the rest of the race.”  It’s understandable considering that, as Floridians say, "we don’t have hills in Florida."

Jacques adds that as he got to the two-mile, which was roughly around 9:40, he thought that it was going to come down to who wanted it more.

Jacques recalls coming out of the woods and hearing spectators shouting at him, and calling out his position. That’s when he knew that he had to go.

“That’s when I knew that I couldn’t let anyone pass me,” he said. “I was hurting at that point.”

Jacques says that today was a confidence boost, as well as a relief, especially after what happened to him at state. The 2014 4A Boys Cross Country State Champion as a junior, and as a senior, he fell apart with about 300 meters to go finishing 9th.

Today was his comeback, just like 2013 State Champion Nick Diaz last year.  Like Josh, he didn’t defend his cross country title during his senior year but qualified in 2014 as a Foot Locker Finalist, just behind Steven Cross in matching 15:01's.

For Jacques, this was a dream come true. After running Foot Locker with his partner in crime, Jordan Armstrong, the dream is finally a reality.  Jacques said that they’ve always worked towards Foot Locker Nationals, and for four years, that was the goal.

With the goal met, Jacques says that he doesn’t have too much of a plan for Nationals. He just wants to finish strong and run a good race to represent Lyman High School and the state of Florida well.