No Off Season for Muskego Track Athlete

"In the sprints, Xavier (Jansen) is proving that he is by far the fastest runner in the SEC," Muskego High School Track and Field Coach Owen Jarrette told the Muskego NOW back in May of 2012, when the junior competed in the Southeast Conference meet.  

Jansen won the 100-meter dash at 11.45 seconds and ran with Alec Van Hecker, Cameron Rygiewicz and Neil Slomczewski to capture the 4 x 200 relay in 1 minute, 31.87 seconds.

However, while he went back to school this year in fall and played on the football team, he didn't take much time off from track, keeping his future in mind.

Jansen, now a senior, has been running this winter with the USA Track and Field Amateur Athletic Union (USATF/AAU) track team, the Silver Spring Spartans from Milwaukee. He has so far run in three USATF/AAU sponsored multi-state events and has won all three short sprint races he's run in January and February, breaking a meet record with a 55m time of 6.50 at the Midwest Zone Championships.

However, Jansen remains humble and focused despite the early attention, as he hopes to secure a D1 scholarship, but knows the season hasn't yet begun to firmly prove himself.

"I like the team aspect of this sport, but also the individual focus, so I hope to keep improving and pushing myself," Jansen said.

It may take just a little push, as Jansen is only .01 seconds from last year’s Wisconsin high school state record in the 55 meter dash. Given the fact that Jansen has only spent one full season in track, the feat is remarkable.

"I joined the team as a sophomore, but had been in a car accident, which sidelined me for about four weeks," he explained. He seemed to make up for lost time in his junior year.

He credited his coaches and teammates for his development, along with a training regimen that included an hour a day of weight lifting plus practices through USATF AAU, which are about two hours twice a week.

Looking forward to the season, Jansen said, "the team looks good - all six of our sprint relay members are coming back, and we have four returning seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. That, plus our off track conditioning program is pretty solid, so I'm looking forward to getting out there."