By Phil Jensen
Special to Chabot Athletics
It's not often when an athlete breaks a 47-year-old record.
Chabot cross country runner Jacob Lawrence achieved this feat last month.
Lawrence, in his freshman season, had the best finish ever by an athlete wearing a Chabot uniform at the cross country state men's cross country championships, breaking a record that stood since 1974.
"I think that's awesome," said Ted Quintana, who set the previous record in 1974 in the large school division. He didn't know he held that record until contacted on Dec. 1. "I was quite pleased that I had a record that lasted so long," he said on Dec. 2. "They always said 'Records are made to be broken.' … I'm quite excited for him."
Lawrence placed third in the California Community College Athletic Association Cross Country Championships on Nov. 20 at Fresno's Woodward Park with a time of 20 minutes, 14.3 seconds for the four-mile course. His time is also a school record for that course.
The records were also a surprise to Lawrence. "I thought we had some guy who had finished second or third before," he said.
Lawrence knows about overcoming adversity. He had to undergo brain surgery after a seizure in 2019 before his senior year of high school at Amador Valley. It's been a long process to where he is now.
"To be 100 percent honest. I think it makes me stronger, mentally more tough than my competitors," Jacob said. "Every time I hop into a race, go on the track, I tell myself 'You are probably the most mentally-tough person here. Don't be soft. It's going to hurt. Embrace it.'"
Chabot student Jason Intravaia placed fourth in 2015, but Chabot students ran for sister college Las Positas at the time. Chabot did not have a cross country program for approximately 15 years. So it was Quintana's record (fifth place), which was broken by Lawrence. The races are no longer broken up into large school and small school.
This season, Lawrence was aiming for the state title and almost achieved that goal.
"It was cool. It wasn't my most tactically-sound race … It was just an OK race," said Lawrence. "I was still happy with it because at NorCal I performed extremely bad."
At the Northern California Regional Championships on Nov. 5 at Sierra College, Lawrence was 13th in 22:19.0 for the four-mile course. But he avenged that placing with a top-notch performance at the state championships.
Lawrence also was able to race with his teammates at the state championships – the Gladiators placed third as a team at the NorCal championships, qualifying for the Woodward Park race. "Being on the starting line with my teammates was pretty cool," Lawrence said.
In the state championship race, Lawrence gave himself the opportunity to win.
"He took the lead with about two miles to go and tried to make his mark on the race and go for the win," Chabot coach Kyle Robinson said. "Second place would have been a real manageable finish, but he's not the type of person who races for second."
Lawrence went through the mile mark at 4:57. "All the key players were there. At that point, it hadn't really separated that much," Lawrence said.
He was still with the group at the two-mile mark, which he crossed in 10:04. Lawrence took the lead right after it and was a leader until two kilometers (1.24 miles) to go, where eventual winner Daniel Abdala of Mt. San Antonio College made a strong move to take the lead for good. He eventually won in a community college course record of 19:52.4. "My legs were pretty cooked, pretty tired. I didn't have enough to go with him," Lawrence said.
Lawrence was then in second place until about 100 meters to go, when Hartnell's Isaac Gensel caught him and kicked to place second in 20:11.1.
Lawrence had an outstanding season. He broke the Coast Conference course record at the Toro Park-Salinas course (19:44.7 for four miles), Robinson said, in a dominating victory on Oct.27. Lawrence also ran 24:14.4 for 8-kilometers (4.97 miles) at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational on Oct. 16, a school record for that length of race. He was the first community college finisher in the men's invitational race (18th overall) – all the runners ahead of him were from NCAA Division I schools.
Now, Lawrence's sights are set on this upcoming spring's track season. Robinson is confident that Lawrence can break Quintana's 5,000-meter school record of 14:30, as well as the Chabot record for 10,000 meters (31:45).
Lawrence ran a personal-record 14:45 for 5,000 meters last spring at a meet at Azusa Pacific University as an unattached competitor. He also ran a personal-record 3:55 in 1,500 meters in the spring at Las Positas last May, where he was also unattached.
The Lawrence family has a history at Chabot. Jacob's father Michael competed for the Gladiators in both cross country and track in the mid-1980's. "It's like a passing of the torch," Jacob said.