IT MIGHT SURPRISE some folks to learn now, after all he’s accomplished, that Jackson Spencer was not exactly the overwhelming favorite to dominate nationally during the 2025 prep cross country season.
Yes, the Herriman (Utah) senior was certainly considered a talented returnee and top contender, listed #3 in two major preseason rankings after a 2024–25 where he was a surprising 7th at NXN, ran 8:51.26 (3200) and 4:02.56y in the spring and finished his junior year anchoring Herriman’s HSR-setting 4 x 800 relay (7:26.12) at New Balance Nationals.
But going unbeaten and sweeping both NXN and Brooks? Smashing German Fernandez’s legendary Woodward Park CR at the Clovis Invite as well as dominating at Woodbridge? And earning a place on the line in January’s World U20 Cross Country Championships?
No prep prognosticators had all of that on their bingo cards for Spencer in 2025. Yet he did all that and more in an unbeaten harrier campaign. And the reward of a Team USA spot in Tallahassee three weeks from now was not just an exciting bonus. It was the goal, the carrot on the end of the stick that has been his driving force.
When Spencer first read about the unique Team USA/Worlds qualifying opportunity, he wasn’t aware that such a meet even existed. “I was like, ‘Really? There’s this World Championships I can possibly make?’ Because my goal at that point in the season was already to win NXN. So I saw the post online and I was like, “Coach, do you see this?’”
He laughs, remembering Doug Soles’ reaction. “He was like, ‘Yeah. I mean, you might as well go after it.’ It was crazy. It was super cool just to have another part of that goal that just made it all the more enticing to want to win NXN.”
The venerable Soles is the only coach to have won NXN titles with two different schools, Great Oak (Temecula, California) in 2015 and Herriman in 2023 — his second year there and the year before Spencer arrived. The list of great individual runners he has coached ranges from Isaac Cortes, Spencer Dodds and Destiny Collins to Noah Jenkins and William Steadman. He’s never coached someone quite like Spencer.
“You’ve got to have someone who has the talent to do it. And then they gotta have the spirit, the focus and the coaching to do it,” he explained. “So then there’s a lot of pieces involved… so many things you have to have to win championship races. Jackson’s great in so many areas.”
Soles inherited a 9:06+ 2-miler when Spencer transferred in from Syracuse (Utah) in fall of ’24, but knew that he could eventually be the fastest of an already great team. He even foretold he would be top 10 at NXN as a junior; Spencer’s 7th-place finish there last fall, in fact — after taking “only” 7th at NXR Southwest — was a clear touchstone in building his current confidence level.
“I’m watching Jackson and he’s mastering these different components, and starting to pass these guys up and beat them. It gave me the hope that not only could he be top 10 as a junior but one of those kids who can put all of those pieces together by the time he’s a senior.
“And to get a kid that has all of the pieces is so incredibly hard. Jackson is very comfortable in the mud, in the rain, the cold, but he’s also comfortable on flat and fast like Woodbridge and a hilly course in San Diego.”
Soles was a young Great Oak coach in 2007 when German Fernandez set the Woodward Park course record at the CIF Finals, considered one of history’s greatest prep XC performances anywhere. This October’s Clovis Invite at Woodward was where he told Spencer he could finally really go for it.
“All of the races leading up to that, I wasn’t allowed to go all out, and I was like, ‘Coach, you need to let me go out from the gun,’” recalls Spencer with a laugh. “It was just infuriating to not be able to race from the front. So yeah, at Clovis, I made it my goal to race from the front, just like straight off the line and I just wanted to see what I could do. Coach said that I could possibly contend for that record, and I ended up breaking it.”
That 14:16.9 opened some eyes around the country. That Spencer was truly on a mission and a historic season was within his grasp was revealed to all.
Spencer would also smash his state meet record, taking down Casey Clinger’s standard. But there would be no attempts to smash records in the post-season. To navigate the gauntlet of the toughest NXR region, NXN Finals, Brooks and then the Worlds, Spencer would need measured efforts, running to win.
Now having accomplished all but the final goal, he can reflect on the national championship performances. Which is he most proud of?
“They’re both awesome in their own way,” he said. “Probably NXN if I had to say one… it was definitely a good race, and I followed strategy perfectly there. But in terms of grit and wanting to win it, definitely Brooks because Marcelo [Mantecon] came and gave me a freaking huge battle and I was able to come out on top of it.”
Spencer gives his coach, teammates and family a lot of credit for his success. Soles’ training program, he says, has helped him develop good speed endurance, a good kick and “with his knowledge of peaking athletes, I can train under him in full faith that he will get me to where I need to be.”
He added his group of teammates last year, including now-graduated twins Jonah and Micah Tang, Noah Manwaring and Tayshaun Ogomo shaped him into being a better athlete. While this year is “definitely different,” his state championship ’25 crew, which placed 3rd at NXN, brings “each other to a new level every day.”
Finally, Spencer’s “awesome” family, he said, has been able to push him into being a better student-athlete. “No matter if I was failing at something or succeeding, we saw it as a learning experience. This has been able to shape my mentality into wanting to always chase after the ‘next thing.’”
And that’s the key; Spencer isn’t spending much time thinking about the titles he just won. “I’ve always been a kind of an ‘on to the next big thing’ type of guy. Once I accomplish something, I’m like, ‘What’s next?’ So, yeah, now we’re on to Worlds and it’s kind of my main focus.”
That’s why Soles thinks Jackson has the mindset of an Olympian. “Olympians think in terms of what they’re capable of doing and aren’t really that worried about anybody else. They have to see everything through a lens of who they are and what they need to get to, to be at the level they want. Jackson wasn’t really geared up to win NXN and Brooks, Jackson’s goal was to make it to the World Championships.
“Jackson has a mindset where he really is always thinking about what he is doing next. He’s wired like Olympians are.”
