Following In Olympic Footsteps

family

By Jason Lamb

With the summer Olympics approaching, it calls to mind one of the one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of Missouri.

The legend of Christian Cantwell began in Eldon, MO. Once the University of Missouri finally discovered him, Cantwell became a star in track and field. Between 2003 and 2012, he was one of the best in the world at throwing the shot put. Three months after his son was born, Cantwell won the silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Now, there’s a young man at Nixa Junior High with the same last name – Cantwell – who’s not only winning every meet, he’s breaking national and world records.

Go to a junior high track meet and you’ll see teens and pre-teens of all different sizes. Some stand out… like 6-foot-6 12-year-old Jackson Cantwell.

“He’s always been the big kid,” says Teri Cantwell.

Teri Cantwell should know. When she delivered Jackson, he weighed 11 pounds, 2 ounces. And he arrived two weeks early. That also describes his accession in track and field… big and early.

In his second junior high meet, Jackson set a new world record for his age division with a throw of 52-feet, 10-inches.

“I mean, I guess I can’t really say much else. It feels pretty good,” says Jackson Cantwell.

He appears to be following in his parent’s footsteps.

Jackson’s father is Christian Cantwell. One of the strongest, most dominant athletes to ever step in the thrower’s circle. He was a five-time Big 12 Champion and a seven-time All-American at Mizzou. A two-time Olympian. He won a silver medal in the 2008 Games in Beijing. A four-time world champion.

“Yeah I thought he would probably throw just like anybody else would in middle school. But obviously he started a little bit earlier. My wife started putting him in track club when he was five or six,” says Cantwell.

Teri was an eight-time All-American and two-time NCAA shot put champion at SMU. She also competed in the 2000 Olympics.

“I wanted him to try everything because I was basically in track when I was young and Christian didn’t do track  until he was older. I wanted him to try jumping and sprinting and he did, but he just obviously really loved throwing and so he kept going there,” said Teri. “And when you’re good at something, you tend to want to do it more so he kept doing it.”

“Back whenever I was like six I was competing at eight and under, and I got sixth or seventh. But at that time I didn’t realize how good that would be for my age. Then I got first that one year, wherever I was like seven years old. I started realizing, maybe I’m pretty good at track,” says Jackson.

Yeah, maybe. Last August, Jackson won his first AAU discus national title. He also set a new national record in the shot put with a toss of over 56-feet.

“You know, he’s just incredibly talented. He’s a big kid. So right now you know he throws a little bit on the back of his, you know his athleticism and everything. He’s got decent technique,” says Christian. “I see right now he does pretty good at discus and shot with his technique, but if we’re gonna go to great it’s gonna take a lot of hard work.”

“Do we know that he’ll end up being an Olympian? Absolutely not. There’s a lot of good kids out there that develop. You’ve got to keep getting better and better. Now obviously he’s done some really cool stuff at a young age. There’s a lot of things that he hasn’t developed into yet. In his size versus strength and agility so we’ll see what happens, but he’s got to definitely keep working,” says Teri.

Jackson’s natural talent isn’t limited to track and field. He loves basketball and football too.

“He plays tight end and defensive end. Right, but that was in seventh grade,” says Christian. “I mean, he’s just a hair over 6-6 and 235 pounds, so you may grow into a tackle or he may keep playing tight end. I don’t know, but yeah, he’s excited for the way football is going. We’re excited for him.”

Whatever Jackson ultimately settles on, Teri says he needs to develop his own identity.

“Obviously when you’re good at something that your parents are good at, that’s the first thing people say. Oh, because dad was an Olympian, or his mom and dad were Olympians. So you know he’s just got to learn to compete with that and deal with that, and really that’s what athletics is all about.”

“I don’t know what sport he’s gonna end up liking the most or being the best at, but you know obviously track and field, there’s a future there if he wants it,” says Christian. “He’s a hell of a football player and good basketball player, so you know I think his age, you know he’s very young. But I think the sports world is his oyster. I mean, he can do it all.”

“There’s so many options I can pick from. But mostly, I’m just see people that don’t have to really work because they can do sports. I just feel like that’d be the best pathway for me,” says Jackson. “I don’t feel like an office job would be correct for me.”

So Jackson will continue to take advantage of his parents’ world-class expertise.

“There’s almost nowhere else you can find this kind of stuff. Honestly, I’d say I got really lucky,” says Jackson. “If it wasn’t for that, and I had different parents, there’s a good chance I might not even be doing track at this point.”

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