It’s Sunday morning in mid-summer and most kids are enjoying the break and sleeping in. But the boys cross country team is hitting the tarmac. Lacing up during vacation may seem crazy to any-other runner, but to sophomore Jack Nicholson, it’s a way for him to improve.

“He’s one of the best runners we’ve ever had in the history of the program,” coach John Tarr said.

Nicholson became the youngest runner in school history to complete a race in under 16 minutes on Saturday, Oct. 3. Nicholson came in with a time of 15.59 at the Allendale invitational making Nicholson the fifth on the all-time leader board for fastest times at GHHS. The following week at the Portage invitational Nicholson beat improved his lifetime personal record to 15.45. Nicholson is chasing the school record set by Joe Duff, who previously ran a 15.32. Nicholson has lead the team all season and continues to improve every week.  According to Tarr the course was very optimal for a good race, which set up Nicholson for this milestone.

“It’s a really flat, fast course, there’s a lot of good competition so they run fast, but the third big reason is because this is at the end of a three week training session, they all are at their highest mileage right now, they’re in shape to run really well,” Tarr said.

Nicholson  is on track to become the fastest runner in school history within the next two years, he is mentally preparing for the journey that lies ahead of him.

“I do plan to continue training like I normally do, and continue to train as a team,” Nicholson said.

Nevertheless Nicholson continues to stay a humble.

“I didn’t ever think I would accomplish something like that, it honestly felt like a dream,” Nicholson said.

Though this may be the highlight of his season, he plans to continue looking forward.

“We are heading into a couple really tough weeks of running, and our miles are increasing slowly but surely,” Nicholson said.