Jacob Thompson made his first national appearance in the winter of 2019 as a junior with the distance-medley relay team. He teamed with Trevor Dilley, Nathan Forney and Ian Kellogg to ultimately finish eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston, Mass.

Thompson ran the 800-meter leg for the group, which used various lineups throughout the year and secured comfortable victories to claim All-Ohio and OAC titles. He joined the quartet at OAC’s and remained in the lineup when they posted a new school record of 9:57 at Tufts Final Qualifying, good enough to rank top-10 nationally and punch a ticket to Boston.

The squad then combined to run 10:05 at nationals, with the anchor Kellogg crossing in eighth to grab the last All-American podium spot. Their time was less than a second out of sixth place in a highly-competitive field.

Thompson carried the momentum into spring season, where he was All-Ohio and All-OAC in the 3K steeplechase.