By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
KEIZER, Ore.– McNary’s Jaxsen Herring has slowly made a name for himself in the local Cross Country world.
The last three years, the Celtic senior has made it to State. After a DNF his first year, he began making changes to improve himself and his performance. He changed his diet, learning what worked for him and what didn’t, while also improving his sleeping habits to ensure his body was getting the rest it needed. Those changes have helped him manage the minor aches and pains that come with cross country while giving him the energy needed to consistently run five kilometers.
Herring’s driven. And his times have shown that. From the mid 17-minute range as a freshman, Herring is pushing the mid 16-minute range now. His goal is to get below that 16-minute mark and hopefully reach the 15:30’s by the end of the season. The goal too is to reach the State Meet once again for the fourth time.
From that DNF, he place 109th as a sophomore and 86th as a junior.
For Herring, it was almost like a science experiment, figuring out what works and what doesn’t as he prepared for his senior year at McNary.
“Each day I learn what my body likes and when to eat. My sophomore year, I was testing different foods before races and all that. I figure out that my body likes typically three to four hours just before I run, getting some healthy carbs and different protein splits and all that. A lot of it is training, I’m up to 45 mile weeks,” said Herrinig. “Mondays are like long (run) day and Wednesday’s are mostly workouts. Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are seven-mile chill days.”
In the opening race of the year, a 3K run at The Opener at the Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Herring ran a 9:26.0 and placed 27th. At the Ultimook Race, a 5K race in Tillamook, Herring ran a 17:45.0 and placed 13th in the 5A/6A race.
Herring will be one of the leaders on the young Celtic squad this Fall. Something that he’s embracing as he takes in lessons he learned from previous leaders like Vince Estrada, Brayden Kaehler and Yosef Picazo to help mold him to be a leader for the squad this year for McNary.
Estrada and Kaehler were those guiding voices when Herring was a young runner with the program while Yosef served as a mentor as Herring was breaking out of his shell last season.
“Vince…and Brayden Kaehler would run with me and I’d be like ‘oh I don’t know what this is and they’ll help me. With Yosef, he helped me step into that leadership role. It was Vince and all them and then it was Yosef and me, so I felt like I worked on stepping up into that role with Yosef and leading the team and just being there for everybody.”
Herring and the McNary Cross Country squad will be back at the Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth on Saturday as they’ll take part in the Ash Creek Invitational. The CVC District race will be on October 28 at the Ash Creek Preserve with the OSAA State Cross Country State Meet being November 7 at Lane Community College in Eugene.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
