Perfect combo: Swagger, and a ‘good human’

Bigfork’s Jack Jensen had a heck of a 2023 track season, capped by him kicking away from his competition to win the State B 800 and 1,600 titles.

Then Bigfork High moved up a classification this school year and Jensen figured, Bring it on.

“Last year, winning the 800 and the mile, was pretty fun,” he said. “But this year, winning against kids I’d never raced, and setting a school record… was pretty fun.”

The low-key Jensen didn’t win the 1,600 last weekend in Laurel, but the 800 was all his. He’d beaten the likes of Hamilton’s Evan Barnett (by .04 of a second), Browning’s Jerdan Crawford and Whitefish’s Simon Douglas at divisionals the week before. 

Now came a field that included defending A champion Caleb Tomac of Havre and others, but Jensen remained undaunted. He ran on the shoulder of Billings Central’s Samuel Jagodzinski, and then outkicked everyone over the final 200 meters to win, in 1 minute, 54.42 seconds.

“I thought I could win,” he said this week. “So I wasn’t really surprised.”

“That’s the confidence he has in himself,” Bigfork track coach Sue Loeffler said. “But the character, to me, is No. 1. 

“He is an amazing young man. He is kind, compassionate, and he is an amazing teammate to all his co-runners. Everything else is icing on the cake. The character, to me, is the most important.”

Ryan Nollan, who guides the distance runners and Bigfork’s cross country teams, figures Jensen owes part of his running success to hiking Blaine Mountain near his home; quads sculpted by hunting forays provided a nice base on which to build.

“He has these powerful legs and is ultra-competitive,” Nollan said. “It translates well.”

Nollan also liked the fact that Jensen tempered that competitiveness with being, in his words, “A good human.”

“He really just set the tone. He was so encouraging, and was hyped up for all our racers,” Nollan added. “He’s got the balance of having a competitive edge and being a good sport, which is hard to do for a young athlete. He really found that.”

The final ingredient was dedication.

“A lot of his competitors are 365 runners,” Nollan said. “They run every day. That’s not been his story. We had to beg him to get to 150 miles last summer, which is not a big number.”

But after basketball season ended, Nollan added, Jensen began running. Here was an athlete that helped Bigfork win a state cross country title (finishing third) as a sophomore, and won two track titles as a junior, putting in more work than ever.

He got results. Jensen’s time at state broke his own school record of 1:56.05, set at the Pilcher Top 10 meet on April 23. Up until then Logan Morley had owned the school record (1:57.04) since 2016. Jensen’s Saturday mark wasn’t far off the Class A record of 1:53.17, set in 2015.

“By being in Class A this year, that pushed him to be a better runner,” she said. “He was pushed and pushed and pushed. He rose above it, and it was amazing to watch.”

By this time next year Jensen will be on the Frontier Conference circuit, having chosen to attend Carroll College. Nollan figures the Saints have found a hidden gem. For sure they’re getting a guy with quiet confidence. He doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up, yet, and that’s OK.

“I have no idea,” Jensen said. “We’ll get there when we get there, I guess.”

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.