2026’s 50 Tickets to Brooklyn: Boys #9

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
11	Jacob Szalay	15:24.8	Saline	206.1	MITCA	8-Nov	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	15:20.1	Saline	207.3	D1 State Finals	1-Nov	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	15:53.3	Saline	195.6	Region 5	25-Oct	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	15:59.1	Saline	200.6	SEC Championship	16-Oct	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	16:01.3	Saline	202.2	Portage	4-Oct	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	15:56.0	Saline	199.0	SEC Red 2	25-Sep	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	15:46.1	Saline	201.0	Jackson	20-Sep	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	16:14.8	Saline	205.4	Spartan	12-Sep	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	15:55.6	Saline	198.5	SEC 1	9-Sep	2025
11	Jacob Szalay	16:44.4	Saline	185.5	Bath	6-Sep	2025
Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
10	Jacob Szalay	15:44.7	Saline	199.8	MITCA	9-Nov	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	15:38.1	Saline	201.3	Division 1 State	2-Nov	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	15:57.0	Saline	195.7	Region 5	26-Oct	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	15:58.8	Saline	200.1	SEC Championship	17-Oct	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	16:06.2	Saline	199.6	River Rat Open	10-Oct	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	16:12.4	Saline	193.9	Portage	5-Oct	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	16:40.3	Saline	193.6	SEC Red 2	24-Sep	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	16:02.6	Saline	197.1	Jackson	21-Sep	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	16:54.9	Saline	190.7	SEC 1	10-Sep	2024
10	Jacob Szalay	16:29.6	Saline	195.8	Bath	7-Sep	2024
Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
9	Jacob Szalay	16:31.2	Saline	183.9	Division 1 State	4-Nov	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	16:20.4	Saline	184.5	Region 5	28-Oct	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	16:59.7	Saline	183.8	SEC Championship	19-Oct	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	16:21.4	Saline	189.9	Portage	7-Oct	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	16:09.0	Saline	185.0	SEC Red 2	27-Sep	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	16:45.6	Saline	181.8	Jackson	23-Sep	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	16:48.5	Saline	184.5	Bath	9-Sep	2023
9	Jacob Szalay	17:06.0	Saline	184.7	Milan Puddle Jumper	29-Aug	2023

Personal Records

5k (XC) – 15:20
800m – 1:56
1600m – 4:12
3200m – 9:12

Accolades

XC

15^th Place – Division 1 State
2x All-State
2x Top-3 – SEC Red
2x Top-5 – Region 5

Track

3^rd Place – Division 1 State 1600m
7^th Place – Division 1 State 3200m
8^th Place – Division 1 State 4×8
Region 5 1600m/3200m Champion

His Breakout Race

You could pick a few from Jacob’s career and be correct in each instance. From this past season, a 4:14 at the rain-delayed Barnyard or a 4:12 in the race against D1’s best. From the prior fall, a 15:20 in the State Finals, a massive personal and season best. Or even stretching back to his sophomore season, when he shattered his previous best at the Division 1 XC Finals. I’m not in the trenches of his mind, I can’t speak for what motivates him to rally in the most consequential environments. However, I can’t help but think that confidence is built from early success, then stacked with each momentous notch in the resume.

Harkening back to that ’24 season. Szalay was coming off a freshman year that portrayed much promise. He’d run 4:33, one of the faster freshman times for a Hornet, and stayed in the 16’s for seemingly the entire season. As a sophomore, those times remained the same, but were inching closer and closer to a leap forward. The Jackson Invite was a real crack at sub-16, 2.6 seconds off the mark. That finally came in the SEC Red Championship and was backed up at the Lake Erie Regional. Jacob was in the discussion for All-State (I had him at 40^th), but perhaps on the outside looking in. That is, until his impeccable MIS performance. Szalay moved up beautifully throughout the race, crossing the mile in 39^th, then moving up multiple spots in each mile and the finishing stretch, before placing 16^th. A nearly 20 sec. PR on the biggest stage, one that has snowballed into even more accolades and accomplishments.