One of the nation's fastest teenagers does not worry about times, medals and Michigan high school state championships.
Bobby Jazwinski, a senior at Whitehall High School, only wants to know how far he can push his limits as a cross country and track and field runner.
The thought envelops him.
"I'm just curious," Jazwinski, the reigning MHSAA Division 2 cross country individual state champion, said over the phone on Thursday, Oct. 1. "I am curious about how good I can be if I dedicate 100% of my life to running. I am disciplined. I go to bed early. I eat right. I do all of the other stuff outside of running because of my dedication to it.
"I am just super curious how good I can be and how far I can go with this. It is truly what I love more than
anything else. I don't think of anything else besides running. And I know I'm put on Earth to do it if that's all I think about."
His commitment to the process has led to eye-catching results. Coming off his state championship season, Jazwinski owns the second-fastest cross country run – a 5000-meter/3.1 mile run over outdoor, natural-terrain courses – posted by a high school student in 2026, according to running website Athletic.net.
Jazwinski won the Muskegon Oakridge Invitational on Sept. 26 with a personal-best time of 14:23.0. His time stood as the fastest in the United States for a week until Dominic Matthias, a junior at Moore High School in Oklahoma, beat his time by nine-tenths of a second on Saturday, Oct. 3.
Unlike track and field, where races are on level ground, cross country results are impacted by the course terrain. Jazwinski's personal best run measured 3.2 miles, about 200 extra meters, because of the turns on the Oakridge course, according to the watch he wears while running.
"It ended up measuring more than a 5K," Jazwinski said. "So my 5K time is faster than what the race actually was. It was a great race. And it wasn't anything extraordinary because all of my training is what makes those races."
Jazwinski followed the race by representing Whitehall at the Nike XC Town Twilight race in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he placed second in 14:40.0, ahead of top athletes from across the Midwest.
Farm-to-course training
He credits the results to his commitment to training, especially after an up-and-down junior year. Jazwinski battled with mononucleosis and an SI joint injury in his lower back that kept him out of national meets after he won the state title.
Whitehall track coach Kirk Mikkelson and his parents, who are both former college runners and Whitehall assistant coaches, managed his workload in the spring as he returned. He ramped back up, winning the D-2 track state title in the two-mile by 19 seconds and placing 11th at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals meet in June.
Over the summer, Jazwinksi's "mindset was strengthened" coming off the injuries. He says his mind is now "unbreakable" while running, allowing him to continuously push himself. While his mindset calcified, his body grew, shooting him up to 6 feet 4.
"We are so incredibly proud of him and when he says he could do better, we don't ever question it anymore," said Bob Jazwinski, Bobby's father. "He missed out on some college opportunities because he didn't run as fast as he wanted to, so we knew we were going to up the training for the start of cross country to open up pretty fast. And he did alright. And now, he's been contacted by pretty much every college in the country."
All of Jazwinksi's training starts at home on his family's farm – the Jazz Blueberry Farm in Shelby. Robert, a former Western Michigan runner, guides Bobby's running training. His mother, Katie, a two-time All-American in both cross country and track at Michigan, helps with his mentality, nutrition and weightlifting.
"It is a total team effort when we coach," Bob Jazwinski said. "When we are helping people, Katie is probably the smartest person head-to-toe, and I'm just the one who can make up really crazy and dumb workouts. And Katie is able to explain them and stuff."
Jazwinski piles his training miles on a homemade 400-meter dirt track the family built on the farm. Two summers ago, the family wanted to repurpose old corn and soybean fields. They tilled the fields with their tractors, and Bob Jazwinski studied countless YouTube videos to make sure he could properly recreate a 400-meter racetrack down to the centimeter with proper turn and straightaway distances.
Also on the farm, a pole barn has been repurposed into a weight room and plyometric training facility.
"It is like a running, farming, nature paradise out here," Jazwinski said. "I love it and couldn't imagine anywhere better to train."
"It is like the Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come," Bob Jazwinski said. "... And I'm sure we are going to put about 1,000 blueberry bushes in the middle and make it a blueberry track. And apples and cherries. We are living here so we might as well do it."
Drawing inspiration from big sis
Jazwinski is the second-oldest sibling out of four. His older sister, Jessica, a current sophomore runner at North Carolina State and a two-time MHSAA state champion, is one of his biggest sources of inspiration.
He watched up close as she dealt with nagging injuries at the end of her high school career and bounced back in Raleigh.
"Her senior year of high school, she went through so many struggles and persevered so much," Jazwinski said. "She taught me how to persevere. She teaches me so much with my mentality. That's the biggest thing I have learned from Jess because she never gives up on anything."
Both transferred during his sophomore year and her senior year because of issues at their previous school, Hart. The move forced Jazwinski to sit out of MHSAA competition as a sophomore, and he spent that time sharpening his mind and getting faster.
His absence from competing also helped him realize he loved the grind.
"I think that entire year, more than physically with training, that was the year I mentally took the biggest step up from before," Jazwinski said. "If we truly didn't love running, maybe some other people would not have been able to handle it. But for me and my sister – I know for myself and probably can answer for my sister – running is 100% of what we think about all the time and that is all we want to do."
He is trying to be the same role model for his two younger siblings, who have also shown an interest in the family's past time, and the younger members of the Whitehall running program.
"Jess probably helped the most because he really looks up to his sister," Bob Jazwinski said. He later added, "He shares his passion with everything and he doesn't care if it is running. And those two [siblings] have picked up on it too. They sit around and talk about, well dumb things, and also running. They all share the same passion."
But Jazwinski wants that conversation to be about running. He wants every conversation to be about running as he strives to become the best version of himself.
"I want to know how good I can be, how far I can get and how much hard work, discipline, resilience and confidence can get me in this sport," Jazwinski said.
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Farm to track: How Bobby Jazwinski became one of nation's top cross country runners
