Herriman (UT) senior Jackson Spencer is authoring one of the most impressive seasons in high school history, posting an undefeated record in high school competition across the entire academic year and running historically fast times from the mile up to the 5000m. The future BYU Cougar racked up a pair of national titles during the cross country—plus an 18th-place finish in the U20 race at the World Championships—and another two crowns at New Balance Nationals Indoor in March.

Spencer has kept the ball rolling during the outdoor season, picking up impressive victories at the Jesuit Twilight Relays and Arcadia Invitational, as well as winning the distance triple at the Utah 6A State Championships. As he sits on the doorstep of his final national postseason, Spencer spoke with CITIUS MAG to reflect on his season so far and give insights on his big goals for his final races in a Herriman uniform.

The following interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.

CITIUS MAG: Jackson, you’re coming up on one of the final races of your high school career at New Balance Nationals Outdoor this month. You’re kind of in the weird spot between when States is done but you’re waiting for the national postseason to start. How are you feeling right now?

Jackson Spencer: I’m feeling good, training’s going well, so I’m pretty happy.

You just completed the 800m-1600m-3200m triple at the Utah State Championships. How did you structure your training leading into that meet knowing that—unlike most other kids in Utah—that’s not necessarily the biggest meet of your season?

Interestingly enough, I actually did taper a lot for State with the team. I actually got kind of sick with this weird coughing bug the week before and the week during, so it just kinda was interesting trying to train through it. Some days I felt not good enough to do a full run and just ran short, other days I was like, ‘oh, I’m feeling good.’ I was able to still get 30-40 miles within that part of the season so it was kind of a taper, but I’ve gotten rid of that recently so I’ve been bumping it back up to 60 [miles per week].

Throughout the season, you’re sitting at U.S. No. 6 in the 800m, No. 1 in the mile, and No. 1 in the 3200m. The trend has continued where you just haven’t really had a bad race this entire school year, how are you feeling about your outdoor season up to this point?

It’s been pretty good. The only bad race that I would consider is actually just my 3200m at State [an 8:52, 12-second win], but that’s the only one so glad to get that over with. I think I’ve been having really good races up to this point.

Those marks of 1:49.38 in the 800m, 3:58.17 in the mile, and 8:31.80 in the 3200m, can you talk a little bit about how that speaks to your range as a runner and how you’ve built that?

Naturally, I have a really nice aerobic system, so that really helps. I just have a good base. And then we do a lot of speed stuff, a lot of good tempo work. It definitely helps with the shorter distances. After an easy run, we’ll do a couple 150s of sprinting and it helps a lot with the leg turnover. It meets in the middle at the 800m to the two-mile really well.

Definitely, and you showed that speed in impressive kicks to win your mile at Jesuit and 3200m at Arcadia. Between those two races—No. 7 in high school history in the mile and No. 6 in the 3200m when converted to a full two-mile—which one of those do you think was better and appreciate more?

I don’t know, I think they’re all really cool. I always wanted to be sub-1:50, sub-4 and sub-9, honestly, so that was really cool to be able to beat all those thresholds. I’m proud of every single one of them differently, but I would say probably that 3200m was my favorite one to race. I had control of the race and then when it was time for me to turn it on, I was able to. So that’s the one I’m a little more proud of but I think they’re all really awesome.

We’ve seen you in so many awesome battles between the cross country season, beating Caden Leonard in your mile, Marcelo Mantecon in the 3200m. With how good this current group of guys is, how much does knowing you have to bring your A-game every time you step up to one of these nationally competitive races keep motivating you?

They definitely help me. My biggest fear is getting complacent, always, and I just try my hardest to get after it every day. Every day I think it’s a good training day and I get the most out of it, then come race day it’s like, ‘alright, you’re ready.’

You’re a more recent New Balance signee, joining their NIL program after the cross country season. What has that support looked like and what’s been your favorite part of being a New Balance athlete so far?

Before I signed, I didn’t even know that running clothing existed. I knew running shorts, obviously, but running shirts and running socks, I didn’t know that was a thing. It’s been really nice having multiple different shoes for different types of runs. It’s been really cool to be able to expand that. I’ll run in one [pair] one day and then another a different day, and by the time I come back to the first shoe it feels fresh and new.

What is the shoe rotation for you?

I think I have seven right now. I’ve got the 1080s, 880s, the Ellipses—I really like the Ellipses, they’re nice—the Mores. I got that one like two weeks ago and it’s been cool to be able to run in it. Really big step, it’s like never ending cushion, it’s so cool. I’ve got the Rebels for long runs. I have the Pacers for interval sessions and then the SC Elites for tempos. I have so many different pairs of these shoes, it’s insane.

Now your high school career is starting to come to a close with your last States and entering your last national postseason. You’ve got the 5000m on deck at New Balance Nationals, are you and the Herriman boys trying to defend any relay titles as well?

I think we’re gonna put the most emphasis on the DMR, because that’s the national record that Coach [Doug Soles] doesn’t have. We’re gonna defend our 4x800m and then do the DMR, and I’ll personally do the 5K.

What is exciting you most as we’re coming up on that meet now? What are you picturing in your head when you think of NBNO 2026?

I’m just gonna run as fast as I can in the 5K, because I think that’ll be my last 5K of the season so we’ll see what I can do there. The 4x800m will be the next day and we’ll try and win that with as fast of a time as we can. And then fast forward two days and we’ll run the DMR and try and get a national record in that.

You haven’t lost a single race this season, and the times you’ve been putting up are some of the fastest we’ve ever seen. Do you let yourself think about the legacy you’ll be leaving behind right now, or are you just dialed in on the next race and after you theoretically break that tape in Philly you can start reflecting?

Each race is its own race, I try not to get too far ahead of myself. Looking back on the races that I’ve ran is really cool… seeing what I did right, what I did wrong and everything in between. I’ve never thought much about that though—I guess that’s cool that I actually am leaving a legacy… that’s really neat. I try and race as much as I can, and each race that I go into is the race that I want to race, so I focus on it the most.

Awesome, well you’ve got some exciting races coming up to stay focused on. Jackson, congratulations on all the success you’ve already had this season and we’re looking forward to what you’ve got in store for NBNO.

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