Noah Jacobs of Corunna shown competing in the finals heat of the 4X800 meter relay at the Honor Roll Track Meet May 31, 2016 at the MSU Track in East Lansing. Jacobs and his teammates took 1st place in the event. Jacobs went on to capture his second Division 2 state title in the 3200 at the state meet.
CORUNNA – Noah Jacobs was able to cross off one of his two goals this past track and field season.
The Corunna standout junior entered looking to break nine minutes in the 3,200-meter run — the event he was crowned champion in at the Division 2 state meet as a sophomore — and he also wanted to help the Cavaliers capture a regional title.
Jacobs wasn’t able to get Corunna the elusive championship, as his team finished second behind St. Johns at regionals. But he went on to break the nine-minute mark at the state meet with a Division-2 record time of 8:55.57 and grab his second consecutive state title.
“The atmosphere was great,” said Jacobs, who is the State Journal boys track athlete of the year. “I didn’t really feel that much pressure, personally, but I knew there were people out there that were expecting me to do something really big that day. So there was a little bit of pressure to rise up on the big stage.
“To have one of my best days there, the crowd was electric and it was like no other race I’d ever ran.”
Jacobs, who was also named the boys cross country runner of the year in the fall, spent much of his junior campaign gathering accolades. He set the school record in the 1,600-meter run (4:17.08) as well as the 3,200.
Before his championship performance at states, Jacobs set the school record in the 3,200 in front of his home crowd at the Cavalier Classic in early May. He posted a time of 9:03.30.
“That was the first time that my coaches and I decided to run the 3,200,” Jacobs said. “We set it up at home so that I could break the school record, have an announcer say stuff about it and have more people know what’s going on.”
Jacobs, who has mid-Michigan’s best times in the 1,600 and 3,200, was also a part of the 3,200-meter relay team that was victorious at the Greater Lansing Honor Roll meet. That group went on to place second at the state meet.
And aside from his personal accomplishments, Jacobs said his team’s victory at the Division 2 Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association meet in early May was a standout memory.
“Just standing there on the infield, not knowing if we won or took second,” he said. “The announcer saying every team, then saying second place and not saying us, we knew we had won. That was one of the coolest moments as a team.”
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.