Freshman sprints to phenom status

by Paul Shugar
THE POST

If someone had told Ohio sprinter Martin Jackson that he would qualify provisionally for the NCAA Championships as a freshman, he would have laughed.

Three years ago, Jackson's family moved from Seattle to Hilliard, Ohio, a Columbus suburb. He was adjusting to the new school when his sister asked him to join the track team with her. After a disappointing junior basketball season he reluctantly decided to take her up on the offer.

"I hated track, but after the bad basketball season I figured I had nothing to lose and I blew up," Jackson said.

He emerged with two Ohio Capital Conference championships in the 200-meter race and four district championships in the 200 and the 100. He was fifth in the state two consecutive years in the 200 and was a qualifier in the 100-m.

The explosion sent out quite a few shock waves, but many schools were still reluctant to recruit the inexperienced sprinter.

"Kent, Akron, Youngstown, Missouri, Eastern Michigan and other schools all had interest in me, but none of them would let me run right away like Ohio would," Jackson said.

Track Head Coach Elmore Banton said he didn’t think Jackson would contribute so much to the team in his first season, however.

"We liked what we saw when we recruited him," Banton said. "We figured he would develop into a very strong runner by his junior year, but he has been a very pleasant surprise."

Jackson surprised the coach by becoming the Bobcats’ top sprinter this spring. He is a consistent placer in the 100 and the 200, and a success on the Bobcats’ 400-relay and 1,600-relay teams.

In Ohio’s quad meet May 6 in Akron, the young sprinter added another accomplishment to his repertoire. Despite a groin injury, he ran the 200 in 20.78 seconds to qualify for a provisional bid to the NCAA Championships held May 31-June 3 in Durham, N.C.

"I don’t know how hurt he is when he runs those times," team captain and hurdler Steve Schaub said. "I wish I was that hurt to be able to do that."

Jackson said he was amused that the All-American sprinters participating at Akron finally recognized his talent, after looking past him in earlier meetings.

"They all came up and talked to me," he said. "They didn’t do that in indoors because I was unknown back then. But that kind of thing doesn’t motivate me to succeed."

What does motivate the sprinter is showing his old high school coaches and teammates his true talent.

"My school was very racially unbalanced and they made me feel like they wanted me to fail," Jackson said. "They haven’t even put me in the school hall of fame so I want to prove them wrong."

His coach sees Jackson's motivation as a positive.

"Earlier in the year he told me he was going to break the 200 record here which is a pretty impressive record," Banton said. "Also earlier this year, when we canceled a meet, I asked everyone who wanted to go. Usually sprinters are the first ones to want to go home, but his hand was in the air wanting to go to the meet and compete."

Jackson still thinks he has a long way to go until he achieves the level of success he wants. His reaction time out of the blocks is slow and his technique also needs work for him to obtain his future goals. He already accomplished what he hoped to this year by contributing to the team, and he said he isn't sure what he should concentrate on next.

"I honestly have no clue what goal to pick now," Jackson said. "I have to talk to my dad and my coach and find out what to set for myself now."

Jackson believes he can run a 20.54 at the Mid-American Conference Championships, which would automatically qualify him for the NCAA. He could receive an at-large berth with the time he ran at Akron. Six to seven sprinters could run the 200 in 20 seconds at the MACs, he said.

"I’m capable, God bless me, I can do this if I’m confident enough," Jackson said. "Good sprinters like (those that) raced last weekend show up to win, and last weekend I only showed up hoping to compete with them. I have to have that confidence if I’m going to win."