Pottsgrove grad shines at Olympic Trials
Pottsgrove grad Jonas Hampton shines at Olympic Trials
He’s advanced up the ladder of marathon-running competition the better part of the past 15 years.
And success has been achieved by him every step of the way.
Jonas Hampton has made quite a name for himself in the sport. From his scholastic years at Pottsgrove, through collegiate time at the University of Hartford, the 30ish Stowe native has progressed to national prominence ... and within a home-stretch sprint of international fame.
Hampton made a strong showing at the United States Olympic team’s recent marathon trials in Atlanta, Ga. He finished eighth in a field of 175 runners, where the top three finishers qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan — this prior to a oneyear postponement of the Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It marked a vast improvement from Hampton’s earlier Olympic bid. He qualified for the 2016 trials in Los Angeles, finishing a distant 48th in a time of 2:27.21.
“The biggest difference this time, though, was that I took off two months from working full time and trained in Flagstaff, Arizona,” Hampton said. “Not working for January and February was the biggest, and probably one of the most significant, changes. I was able to get the proper rest for once and was able to switch my workout days from Wednesday and Saturday to Wednesday and Friday and give my body an extra recovery day between the workout and long runs on Sundays.
“Really it came down to having enough time for those eight to 10 weeks to do what I needed to and put in the proper uninterrupted mileage that I haven’t been able to do before,” he said.
On the 26.2-mile Atlanta course — one described as being “brutally hilly” — Hampton ran a personalbest 2:12.10 that was within three minutes of the winning time of 2:09.20. He averaged a 4:59 mile in the race, for which he qualified by clocking a 2:14.19 in the 2018 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
”After graduating college, I did my own research on training and read a lot of books on ways to train. I just read what other people did and how they trained, and after some trial and error, I seemed to find what works well for me.”
Hampton’s first Olympic bid was set up by a winning run in the 2015 Eversource Marathon in Hartford, Conn. His first race at that distance was secured by a 2:15.57 effort, and his qualification was aided by the 1:03.57 he clocked in a half-marathon at Houston, Tex. in January 2015.
His run at the Olympic trials led off a problematic stretch in 2016. Jonas spent the remainder of the year battling a sacral stress fracture and related injuries.
In the later part of the year, Hampton focused his winter training on improving his times on the track. Throughout the 2016-17 winter season, he ran several indoor track events, including a 5K PR, before returning to the USATF 15K Championship in March and running at the Portland Track Festival in June.
Jonas placed seventh at the 2017 New Balance Falmouth Road Race, and eighth at the USATF 20K
Championship in New Haven, Conn.
“It’s mostly just consistency,” Hampton said of his success. “Most runners will probably say the same thing, especially marathoners.
Hampton progressed in the course of his four years of scholastic cross-country competition at Pottsgrove.
From a 22nd-place PAC finish as a freshman, he went 7-6-3 the next three seasons, also improving to 25th-place in the 2006 District 1-AAA race and 60th at states. His 15:52 clocking at districts ranks as the second-fastest in Pottsgrove’s program history.
“Jonas just loved to run and did everything to get better,” his high-school head coach, Larry Rechtin, recalled.” Not just the workouts, but what I call all of the ‘little stuff’ that separates the truly serious runners from the rest. This includes things like diet, sleep, weightlifting, core work. Very few runners were or are as committed to the “craft” of running as Jonas.
“I recall Jonas a number of times in high school running from Stowe to the Pottsgrove High School campus to get to a summer workout because he didn’t have a ride. He would then do the workout and then run home.”
Hampton had another high split in track and field, where he competed primarily in middle- and long-distance events, The 9:43.36 he ran the 3,200 his senior season also is secondbest in the program annals ... part of a campaign that saw him qualify for the District 1 meet.
“Jonas was one of the most dedicated, hardworking runners I ever coached,” Rechtin added. “He ran VERY good times and was an excellent high school runner, but his times and places do not equate or would have predicted the levels that he has reached post-college.”
Hampton earned himself a ride to Hartford, where he got a degree in civil engineering while running both cross country and track and field. He ran five and 10K events for the school’s Division I track team.
A four-year (2007-11) member of the University of Hartford track and field and cross country teams, the 2011 graduate was a standout distance runner for the Hawks. He set personal bests of 31:45.62 in the 10,000m, 14:52.10 in the 5000m, 8:39.74 in the 3000m and 4:27.36 in the mile. On the cross country course, he recorded personal-best times in the 10K (34:09.25), 8K (26:21.0) and the 5K (15:35.0).
While at Hartford, he also ran distance races in complement to his collegiate activities. His halfmarathon debut came in 2013 with a fourth-place finish at the Hartford Half Marathon. Two years later, he made his debut in the Hartford Marathon, winning in 2:15:57.
As to how that impacted his current level of performance ...
“It’s really hard to tell what is a major contributor,” Jonas said, “and I don’t really see my current level of performance a reflection of my collegiate career. Even though I went to a D1 school, I can honestly say I wasn’t fast or really good.
“You could look back at the times I ran in college, and no one would even think I could break 2:22 for the marathon based on my collegiate times. I wasn’t running that many miles back then, but maybe if I did, there’s a chance I wouldn’t be running now.”
For Hampton, who currently resides in Medford, Mass., balancing the demands of his vocation as a civil engineer and his distance running activities provides a challenge.
“Honestly, they don’t exactly go hand in hand,” he said. “Running is clearly physically demanding and takes up a lot of time. On the other hand, civil engineering ... you’re usually stationed in front of a computer screen for hours at a time.
“I suppose the balance is just being able to not think about work once you ‘clock out,’ so to speak. It is like having two full-time jobs, though; both are mentally taxing. It is really important for me to focus only on running when it’s time for practice, and that’s it, not work. I think that’s where the balance is.”
“This makes his recent eighth-place finish at the Olympic Trials even more impressive,” Rechtin added, “as many,if not most, runners at that level are fulltime professional runners.”
Jonas sees the acquisition of sponsorship for his racing activities as conducive to being able to devote more time to them. But he sees that as an “easier said than done” proposition.
“Unfortunately, unlike other professional sports, there just isn’t as much money in track and field,” he said. “I am actively looking for sponsors; it just takes a while to get things moving, especially due to recent events.
“Ideally, having a sponsor and able to have some sort of financial support from them that would allow me to only work part time, or just focusing on running, would be great,” he added.” There are a handful of top USA athletes who do have full sponsorships and don’t work at all, and are able to devote all of their time to running. Running is their job, I’m not sure if something similar is available for me at this point in time, but I’m open to and looking at multiple options.”
For the time being, Hampton is focusing on work and workouts.
“At this time,” he said, “I don’t have any immediate future plans. I’m just working on trying to find a sponsor of sorts and running with no plans for any races this summer.
“I’ll do another marathon this fall — haven’t decided which one yet — but it’s still too early to start training for one of them. So until that time, it’s just building back up some mileage and doing light/short workouts.”
He’s not counting on any possibility another marathon trials will be conducted in response to the postponement of the Olympic games.
“The USATF will not rerun another Marathon Trials,” he said. “Nor should they, The athletes that made the team in February deserve to go.
“There might be some guidelines and a few protocols that might be put in place for them in order to make sure they are fit enough and able to race next year. But there is nothing in place that I’m aware of at this time.”
Whatever the future brings, Hampton has one backer who feels he’ll continue to achieve success.
“Jonas was also a humble athlete,” Rechtin said, “and my best guess to his success in the sport post-college is that he had a dream and stuck to it. Never in my working with him did he waver from his goals.”