Distance running was never at the top of Kenna Jacobsen’s bucket list earlier in her life, but after taking it up following her freshman year she has never looked back. On Jan. 8 she signed her letter of intent to continue her cross country career at Salt Lake Community College.

STARTING OUT

Running far distances had never crossed Jacobsen’s mind through middle school, and her seventh grade track season didn’t change her opinion.

“I really didn’t want to go out for track, but I was going to go out for soccer. But then I was like, ‘fine, I’ll just do track’ and I hated it,” Jacobsen said. “But then we only went to one meet, and it got canceled because of Covid. So then I was like, I’m never running again.”

However, Jacobsen said she was actively involved in CrossFit at the time, and continually enjoyed the running portions of the workouts a lot more than others.

“Then I got into better shape, and then eighth grade came around. I went out for track, did way better and had a super successful eighth grade year of track,” Jacobsen said.

Despite the successful year in track, Jacobsen didn’t fully commit to distance running early on as she stuck to middle distance races such as the 400 and 800 along with pole vault.

It wasn’t until a tempo run with the distance team that she found her love for distance running, as she was encouraged to switch from volleyball to cross country her sophomore year.

“I did one tempo run with the distance team, and I ended up doing way better than I thought I would,” Jacobsen said. “I never ran that far or that fast at that time. They were like, ‘you really need to try out for cross country.’ I gave it some thought and I was like, ‘it’s probably best for me anyway.’ So I quit volleyball, and then I got into cross country and that summer, I just started running.”

CROSS COUNTRY FAMILY

Jacobsen said switching to cross country was also due to the bond the team displayed — she wanted to be a part of that.

“I saw their bond they had before I was there and I was like, ‘I want to be friends with Brynn Hillman. Kinley (Cooley) is my cousin, but we weren’t super close before, I just wanted to be friends with all of them,’” Jacobsen said. “They embraced me with open arms and it was super fun. I had a great (sophomore) year, especially with my sister (Megan) being there.”

Another reason Jacobsen was drawn to the cross country team was due to the influence of the coaches, as Ashley Hildebrand and Tracy McArthur have continued to improve the program in recent years.

“They’re just the best. They’re our biggest supporters. If you’re having a bad day, they just lift you up and can make your day so much better,” Jacobsen said. “They don’t really care about how you run. You can be the slowest runner on the team or the fastest runner on the team, they treat you the same and that’s something I really appreciate. Because I know for sure what it’s like to have someone who doesn’t lift you up when you’re not having a very good day. So it’s very important, and they’ve definitely impacted not even just my running career, but just my life.”

FINDING HER PLACE

Jacobsen has been a key part for the Panthers over the years both in cross country and track.She is part of several school records while being the second fastest Panther girl in school history in cross country with a time of 19:24.36.

She finished eighth and earned All-State honors her junior year as part of the girls’ state championship team and finished 10th while earning All-State honors once again this past fall.

Jacobsen said she went out this summer to take part in a cross country camp at Brigham Young University, where she was selected to a team led by SLCC coach Isaac Wood.

“During the week he just knew everything about everyone. He knew my times, he knew other people on my team’s times, he knew everything,” Jacobsen said. “So after camp got over he texted me and was like, ‘hey, I know you’ve already heard about our program because through the week they talked about it.’ He was like, ‘I really would be interested in having you on the team. I picked you on my team this week for a reason.’ I didn’t really know if I wanted to run in college yet, and then I just looked more into it and I was like, ‘it’s a great college. They’ve got a great program.’”

The Bruins are one of the top community college programs in the nation, with the women winning the cross country and half-marathon titles the past two years.

Jacobsen said she is unsure what she will fully be participating in when she gets to Salt Lake, but has an opportunity to participate in indoor and outdoor track in addition to cross country and half marathon running.

“I’m not quite sure how the selection process works, I think most people do both, but I’m not sure how that works,” Jacobsen said. “So I just guess I’ll have to wait and see.”

FINISHING STRONG

Over the final few months of her senior year, Jacobsen is taking on a new adventure, by joining the Nordic ski team in Cody alongside cross country teammate Melissa Merritt. That’ll keep her busy for the winter months before rejoining the Powell track team in the spring.

“Skiing is so much fun. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Jacobsen said. “Knowing I’m not going to be the best, or score in the top 10, that’s pretty hard. But it’s really good for me to be humbled a little bit.”

Heading into her final season on the track for the Panthers, Jacobsen, who has been a part of two state championship teams at Powell High School, wants to leave one last mark on the program before heading to the next level.

“I would love to break some records, that 800 record would be amazing. I don’t know if I can get that, it would be great if I can. Just placing higher at state track, those are some goals I have,” Jacobsen said. “And just have fun.”