The Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville is one of the largest high school cross country races in the country. Not only did Mountain Home senior Jackson Free (JR Free for short) pull away late to win the 5K race, but he set the state record with a time of 14:44.
But Before he became the best in the state of Arkansas JR ran for the best program in the state of Missouri. West Plains has the most cross country state championships with 14. After two years with the Zizzers, JR moved to Mountain Home for his junior year.
“The student section was good,” said JR, a senior on the cross country and track team. “But I was like, ‘It’s missing something.'”
It turns out, as lonely as it is when nobody can keep up with him, JR is actually really good with people. He interns at the local radio station KTLO, where he works the pre-game tailgates at Bomber football games, conducting interviews with the student body. Sometimes he even conducts interviews while running. “I really didn’t know it was going to be as big a deal as it is,”
JR is narrowing his list of potential colleges he’ll run for next year. He doesn’t know what he’ll major in. But if he wants to keep doing interviews he knows what he doesn’t want to do. “I’m not a big fan of the news interviews where they’re reading the teleprompter and they’re just sitting there, you know,” JR said. “I want to be moving. I want to be vocal.”
Whatever he decides to do, if he applies himself to that like he applies himself to running, he’ll be the best.
