No track to practice on? No problem for three-time OSAA individual champ Jace Martin
Adrian High School senior Jace Martin wins a total of four 1A state titles in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, and 4x400-meter relay at the 2023 OSAA Track & Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. Photo by Maggie Troxell
By Israel LaRue
Adrian High School track star Jace Martin didn’t need a track to get a Division I college scholarship. He’s broken records and won championships all while practicing in a basketball gym.
Martin won four 1A state championship events Friday at the 2023 OSAA Track and Field Championships – the 100, 200 and 400 meters plus the 4x400 relay. On Thursday, he had set 1A state meet records during the prelims in the individual events.
In the 100, he ran 10.60, breaking his own record that he set last year of 10.99; in the 200, his time of 21.88 beat Jake Ovgard’s record of 22.35 set in 2011; and in the 400, Martin ran 49.80 to beat Adrian’s Maurus Hope’s record of 49.83 set in 2007.
Martin didn’t need a track to win all of these championships and break records, as Adrian doesn’t have a track for its athletes so the track team mostly practices inside of the school’s basketball gym.
“It's a shorter distance, obviously,” he said. “You can't run a full 100 in the gym. It's harder on your legs. So we do a lot of recovery stuff. It's not ideal for speed, but we make it work with what we got.”
Martin is the first athlete from Adrian to receive a Division I scholarship, and he got multiple offers to choose from.
D1 athletes at service academies aren’t on athletic scholarships like other Division I athletes are; instead they are appointed to the service academies and have their schooling paid for. In return, the athletes serve their country after graduation.
Martin committed to Air Force for track and field over Notre Dame. He started his journey to become a Falcon before his senior year.
“It's a long process,” he said. “It took me about a year. I mean, there were lots of interviews, lots of papers, lots of late nights and lots of studying. Very stressful. So it made it that much better when I heard I got accepted.”
To become an Air Force athlete, students must get a letter of recommendation from their state representative. U.S. Representative Cliff Bentz wrote Martin’s letter of recommendation.
Only four track and field athletes were appointed to the Air Force Academy in this year's recruiting class.
“I think it has what I want both athletically and, most importantly, academically,” he said. “I mean, prestige-wise, and in terms of pushing you to your limits, getting you to excel, there's no really higher up than Air Force.”
Martin’s goal is to become a Judge Advocate General (JAG) or a military lawyer.
“I know there's a lot of cool opportunities there, so I'm trying to keep an open mind,” he said. “If I come out wanting to be a pilot, then I'm all for it.”
After breaking state meet records on Thursday, Martin switched up his strategy for Friday’s finals.
“I'm just going for placings,” he said. “I'm pretty happy with the times yesterday, so now I'm just trying to finalize it and get it all done.”
With running so many events, Martin barely had any time to recover between races.
The 1A 100m race started at 6:08 p.m.. Martin won with a time of 10.95, about a half-second ahead of runner-up Keith Gaskell. He didn’t get to the podium until 6:18, and then was awarded his medal at 6:20. Martin was interviewed for about five minutes. The 1A 400m race started at 6:38. Martin literally had less than 10 minutes of true rest between the two races.
He had a plan to deal with it, though.
“Mostly just kind of keep my legs loose, keep them relaxed,” he said during those five minutes of interviews after the 100. “Like I said, I had a big day yesterday, have a big day today. There's really good competition. So really just kind of saving my energy across all my events to get in good placings where I want, and then be able to be competitive in that 4x4.”
Martin then won the 400 in 50.94, with second-place finisher Ralph Pohlschneider finishing 1.31 seconds behind him.
After the 400, Martin had about an hour and 20 minutes before the 1A 200m race started. He won his third state championship of the day with a time of 22.02, just .20 ahead of runner-up Zion Fantroy. But after the 200, he was feeling the effects of the three races.
“I mean, two full days of two 400s, two 200s and two 100s – my legs are starting to catch with me,” he said. “I thought I came off the curve really well, but I hit that 20 meters mark, and I was like, ‘Oh, boy, here it comes.’”
He still had to anchor the 4x400 relay about an hour later. During his post-race interview after the 200, he was visibly tired. His plan: “Legs up and pray I can make it around that last hundred,” he said.
Adrian then won the relay finishing .23 ahead of Imbler High School.
Adrian is currently building a track that will be complete by the end of the summer. One of the benefactors will be Martin’s sister, Addy. She’s currently a sophomore at Adrian and, like her brother, won three individual state titles Friday in the 100, 200 and 400.
She said the Martins have a lot of experience running and practicing away from a traditional track.
“When we were little, yeah, we would just get out of the yard, race back and forth,” she said. “Sometimes it was like an obstacle course and you had to run barefoot across the rock. So maybe that's what it is.”
Jace Martin said the new track will have a “red surface” just like Hayward Field.
“I'm a little bummed that they're putting it in right after I graduate,” he said. “I'm like, one year sooner would have been great, but no. It's looking awesome right now.”