(EDITOR’S NOTE: Leeds By Example is a series highlighting outstanding senior athletes who have done a lot for their respective schools. We thank Leeds Builders of Margate for sponsoring these articles on some of the best and brightest young athletes in South Jersey.)
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
When Owen Jacobs started his high school sports career four years ago, a stiff breeze might have knocked him over. He was about 5-foot-2 and maybe about 98 pounds — “if we’re being generous,” he says.
But four years can make a huge difference in the life of a teenage boy, and Jacobs recently graduated from Palmyra High as the school’s salutatorian. He’ll also carry 11 varsity sports letters with him in the fall as his educational journey continues at The College of New Jersey, a school that his mother, Karen, graduated from more than three decades ago.
Jacobs is the kind of athlete who so often goes overlooked because they don’t have eye-popping statistics, but these kinds of kids should be celebrated because of the impact they have on their respective teams. Jacobs worked hard and trained hard for years and ultimately became the captain of the cross country team and the No. 1 singles player for the Panthers’ tennis team. He also ran four seasons of indoor track.
He was a novice in both sports when he walked through the doors at Palmyra, which makes his rise that much more impressive.
And, he learned a ton along the way. Not only about running and tennis, but also about himself and ways to overcome self-confidence issues that came along with being so small in stature when he was in middle school.
“I joined cross country because my older friends were the captains and I was like, ‘well, I can’t really go wrong with this.’ My initial goal was just to see how much I could improve my freshman season,” Jacobs said. “Unfortunately, there was so much I didn’t know about training, so I didn’t accomplish as much as I could have. I ended up getting injured, which affected my sophomore season, too.”
He didn’t get off to a great start in his high school career. In cross country, he was an average runner and an injury derailed his season, and during the tennis season he was relegated to doubles on the junior varsity. But after that spring, he decided being average wasn’t going to be good enough. Ultra-competitive and exceedingly hard on himself, Jacobs said he knew he needed to find ways to channel the frustration of not living up to his own expectations and turn that into action instead of excuses.
“The most important thing I learned — and this is the thing I struggled with the most in high school tennis — is that you can’t let a single point derail you because it’s a long match. Even if you lose 6-0, 6-0, it’s still a long match, so you can’t let one point get to your head. When I was a freshman, I would get anxious and upset when I lost a point that I felt I should have won. By my senior year I learned that if you don’t win the point, you have to go to the next one immediately and instantly forget about the previous one,” he said. “You can’t let (a lost point) affect the next one. It was a combination of personal maturity and understanding the sport better. One thing that helped me was a speech that Roger Federer gave about his career, and about how he only won 55 percent of the points in his matches but he won more than 90 percent of the matches. Which is a crazy statistic, but it shows he didn’t worry about the 45 percent of the points he lost, he still won the match.
“(First singles) was my goal since my freshman year. Sophomore year I started to think about it and I tried (through challenge matches) my junior year, but I wasn’t at that level where I could be consistently good enough to beat my teammates,” Jacobs continued. “I wasn’t mentally consistent enough throughout the whole match. I’d win a few games, but then maybe fall in the second set. By my senior year, I learned to play every point like it was a new point. I learned how to play through an entire match — not just the technique, but how to stay mentally and physically consistent. I found ways to stay relaxed, to stay focused the whole match.”
“Last year, I loved having Owen at that first doubles position because we just ate up so many wins. We could always rely on first doubles to get that ‘W’. And this year, he did great at first singles. It’s the most challenging position. He got his butt handed to him a little bit because we were going against some really good schools. (Going into the playoffs) he said, ‘I just want to get the win,’ and we got that win (against Wildwood), and he did great,” said Palmyra tennis coach Jeremy Nevitt. “Connor (McCann), who is our second singles, was our third singles last year and Owen was technically below him. And even on the ladder he was below Jaden (Jennings), but going into the challenge matches this spring, I didn’t know who was going to get which spot. Owen prevailed, beating both of them, and was able to get that spot so that was awesome for him.”
Jacobs flourished as a senior, blossoming into a captain of both the cross country and tennis teams. He didn’t have a great finish to his cross country career, as illness cut his season short just before sectionals, but in tennis he helped lead the Panthers into the South Jersey Group 1 quarterfinals before they ran into top-seeded West Deptford.
“With cross country, the best part of my high school career was the (Burlington County Scholastic League) championship race. Just knowing I was the captain and leading the team, and everybody had a great race that day,” he said. “And with tennis, it was probably the playoff matches. I felt like our team really represented itself well. We made it to the quarterfinals and lost to the team that eventually won the section, so I was proud of how our team performed. We fought hard.”
Playing first singles is tough, as you’re taking on the best player from every opponent, and often those players had a lot more experience than Jacobs. But, he said, it wasn’t about wins and losses. He wanted to prove to himself that he could hang with the best any team could put out there.
“I didn’t win many matches, but I was happy with the trajectory of the season because I felt like I became more comfortable with playing the better players. I became more comfortable with the idea of beating players who I thought might be better than me. It’s such a mental thing, if you believe you’re going to beat them, that certainly helps your chances,” Jacobs said. “I was most proud of the fact that I no longer felt uncomfortable in a singles match. I didn’t feel anxious. I felt like I could trust myself, and the fact that I was able to inspire my teammates to want to improve and go after that first singles spot next year.”
“Owen was a great leader on this team. I was just saying the other day to a coach from another team, it’s great to have someone like Owen who can lead a captains practice, do drills with his teammates or lead the dynamic warm-ups. Having that leadership, I think, helped him get that first singles spot,” Nevitt said.
Competing in three varsity sports meant Jacobs had to have some good time management skills to stay on top of his classwork and ultimately be one of the students making a speech at the graduation ceremony. But, he said, running all those miles actually helped him stay focused.
“Part of it was not treating my sports as work, but instead treating it as the fun part of my day. During the cross country season, instead of thinking, ‘oh, I have to run 30 miles this week,’ instead I would think that’s time that I’m out training for what I need to do. The school workload was hard, especially during college applications, and a lot of high school athletes know it gets difficult. I had to make sure I was keeping on top of my sleep and my health, too,” he said. “In some ways (training) makes school work easier because you’re thinking, ‘well, this run is the hardest part of my day, so the rest of the day is easier by comparison.’ And I always had plenty of time to think about my future and my sports journey. When it came to races, I always felt prepared because I had all that time to work through my confidence issues or any mental struggles I was having.”
“His attitude definitely rubbed off on the other kids. He’s absolutely a leader, and having him be that leader and do what you expect of a captain makes things a little easier on you as a coach because it sets a precedent. You don’t have guys goofing off. He’s able to keep everything in line,” Nevitt said. “He helped keep everyone excited and ready for matches with the intensity that he brings. I was not surprised (he became first singles). I hope he does great at TCNJ, and being a TCNJ alum, I hope he has as much fun there as I did.”
Jacobs said he plans to double major, in Economics and International Studies, in preparation for a potential career in national diplomacy. If anybody doubts he can be successful in doing all that, all he has to do is point to the last four years as proof he’s up for any challenge.
“I was surprised I got 11 varsity letters,” he said. “That’s pretty good for somebody who knew nothing about either of those sports.”
