Recent St. Joe’s graduate Blake Jaeckels never would have guessed two years ago that track and field would be his sport of choice going into college.
“My whole life, football was my favorite sport,” the St. Joe’s quarterback told the Sun. “I was waiting to see if something would happen for football.”
Sometimes the best things are right in front of you. And knocking hard at Jaeckels’ door during his senior year was Chico State’s track coach, who wanted Jaeckels on his decathlon team. After getting some sage guidance from the St. Joe’s track coach, Phillip Adam, Jaeckels let go of the football dream and decided to commit to Chico State.
“I thought that’d be the right way to go,” he said. “I can’t thank [the St. Joe’s coaches] enough for their help with the decision.”
Jaeckels did get one more chance to shine on the football field recently on the Santa Barbara County All Star team at the annual Santa Barbara County vs. SLO County All Star game on June 4. Jaeckels started at quarterback and got one last opportunity to play with a few Knights teammates, and a first-time opportunity to play with many of his fiercest rivals from other PAC 8 schools.
“It was super fun. We got a week to practice together,” Jaeckels said. “You play against them and tried to beat them during the season, but we came together [for the all star game] really well.”
During the track and field season, Jaeckels specialized in hurdles and the long jump, reaching the CIF Southern Section finals with a hurdle time of 15.48 seconds and long jump of 20 feet, 10 inches.
But it’s the decathlon that Jaeckels will turn his attention to next year, a grueling two days with 10 events that include running, jumping, and throwing.
“I love it just because there’s so much to do,” he said.
Jaeckels was able to gain some valuable decathlon experience at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational this season, even though he “didn’t perform that well” at the national meet.
“[Arcadia Invitational] definitely was [a good experience] because you don’t get that many decathlons to do during the year, especially in high school,” he noted.
Jaeckels said he’s excited for what’s in store at Chico State but will miss the close-knit community at St. Joe’s where many of his football teammates also played track and field.
“The whole football team was super close, and the track team,” Jaeckels said. “It’s a really cool environment to have at that school.”
This article appears in Jun 16-23, 2016.