THOUGH HE COMPETES in an individual sport, Stanford's Jackson Shumway has thrived in the team aspect of track and field. The fifth-year senior owns a share of school records in three relays – the indoor and outdoor 4x400 and the distance medley.
Sprints and hurdles coach Gabe Sanders said this of Shumway, who anchored Stanford to an indoor 4x400 school record on Feb. 25: "He cemented his legacy as one of the greatest sprinters and leaders to ever don a Cardinal uniform."
Shumway arrived at Stanford out of Deerfield Academy, a small boarding school in Deerfield, Massachusetts, as an overlooked walk-on. On Friday, he completes his collegiate career at the NCAA Indoor Championships by running 400-meter leg on the distance medley relay. He also completes his degree requirements this quarter with a double major of economics and political science. He twice was the Pac-12 runner-up in the 400 hurdles and last spring anchored the Cardinal 4x400 to its first conference title in 62 years.
Before making the NCAA trip to College Station, Texas, Shumway offered a perspective of his Stanford career.
Q: You came to Stanford as a walk-on in the fall of 2012, essentially between coaching staffs, after Edrick Floreal left and as Chris Miltenberg was arriving. How did your Stanford track and field journey begin?
A: The coaches didn't even know who I was. I don't think they knew whether I was supposed to be here or not.
The old coaches knew I was going to try to walk on. I didn't realize they left until I got here. I wasn't on the e-mail list for practice or anything. I talked to the other people who had been recruited and they told me when practice was, so I figured I'd just go.
When (new sprints/hurdles coach Jody Stewart) got here, we'd already been here for a couple of months, so he was like, 'Who are you?'
'I'm Jack Shumway.'
He just said, 'All right.'
I just kept showing up.
Q: You had a good feeling that you had potential.
A: I knew I was good enough to be on the team, but I definitely didn't expect to end up where I am now. I played baseball as a freshman in high school, but my dad (former Stanford 400 hurdler Garry Shumway) thought I would be a better track athlete. In Massachusetts, the snow doesn't melt until May, and we only ran in four or five meets a year. I had some decent times, but nothing worth being recruited for. But I knew I could improve a lot. I obviously didn't think I would end up being this good. It turned out pretty well.
Q: You own three school records, all in relays.
A: Relays are what I really like. The 4x4 was always my favorite event in high school.
Q: At the MPSF indoor championships recently, you ran a personal best 47.06 in the open 400, and then had a 45.5 split in the relay.
A: I don't know why it works that way, but I'm a lot better with the stick.
There's more of a team aspect to the relay. You can't let the other people down. I also like running from behind and usually get a chance to do that on the relays. Going against schools like Baylor, Texas A&M, or Arizona State, it gives you a chance to chase people down.
About that 47.06, I would have gone under 46, but my shoe came untied at the start of that race. I noticed it when I came out of the blocks. I thought my shoe could come off at any moment. Luckily, I was in a slower heat, got out pretty well and was running from the front the whole time. I didn't have anyone stepping on my shoelaces, but I was ready to go barefoot if I needed to.
Q: What has been your key to improvement?
A: I've definitely gotten bigger and stronger, because I was really small and skinny when I first got here. But I also think it has to do with an attitude: You can't have a bad day ever at practice. That's something we used to talk about with Jody, that you've got to make your 'C' days and 'D' days into 'B-minus' and 'B' days. Even if you feel bad, you just have to put in the effort to make sure you get something out of it.
Q: At what point did you start believing that you belonged?
A: It was hard when I was a freshman or a sophomore, I did not run fast – ever. Once I did it at Pac-12 prelims my junior year, and ran 52.10 and it was a one-second improvement … once I started to beat these guys that before you had looked up to as being a lot better than you, you get the confidence.
Q: Any rivalry between you and dad?
A: I've beaten his times from Stanford (Jack is No. 7 at Stanford all-time in the 400 hurdles at 51.39 and Garry is No. 8 at 51.71 from 1981). When he was in law school, he came back and ran 50.7, so he still holds that over me. He says he still holds the family record, but he was really excited when I did it at Pac-12's my junior year, and came in second. That was totally unexpected.
He was there at a different time, when there were maybe 10 guys running under 49 in the hurdles in the Pac-10. He was good. He was a better hurdler than me, but I think I'm a better 400 runner than he was. His relay splits were in the 46's. He never got under 46.
Q: Your grandfather, Forrest Shumway '50, JD '52, is something of a legend as well. As a businessman, he built Signal Oil & Gas, and, like you, he also broke a sports record.
A: He had the record for a 163-pound Pacific bigeye tuna, which was the biggest ever caught with a certain rod and line. He was a good athlete. He always used to say he was faster than my dad.
Q: If I watched a movie from the 1980's, would I find your house in Winnetka, Illinois, in any of the scenes?
A: The Home Alone house is about three blocks from my house. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when he's running through the backyards, is maybe 70-80 feet away from where we used to live. The other one is Ocean's Twelve, when Julia Roberts is painting the house, that house is maybe two blocks from my house.
Q: How do you feel about your college career coming to an end Friday with the DMR at NCAA's?
A: It's good and bad. We've got a chance to do something really good. We've got a good team. Jack Keelan's really good and if we get it to him in the right spot, he can do it for us.
it's going to be weird when I'm done and weird to finish at nationals. The relays are always the best part of track for me, so I'm glad that's how it will end. It's going to be fun. I think we're going to have a chance to do something pretty good.
Q: What do you tell these guys as the only one with NCAA experience from this relay team?
A: I am, but I only ever gone on the relays. We've had some really good people on this team before, like Sean McGorty, and Justin Brinkley and Tom Coyle. They probably talk to those guys a lot more, because they're all distance runners. Those guys already know what the stakes are and what they need to do, and they're well-coached by Coach Milt.
I can't tell them about their individual races, because I've never gone farther than 400 meters, but one thing that sometimes the younger guys don't know is to stay calm. Run your own race and do what you always do. If they ask me, that's what I'll tell them. Stop thinking about it so much, just run as fast as you can.
Q: I was always baffled by the 400 leg in the distance medley relay. After all, what difference does it make if you finish a half-second ahead of somebody and the other team just catches up on the mile? But Steven Solomon's leg on the 2014 NCAA champion DMR changed my thinking. It's so important to get the team out of traffic and get a clear lane.
A: That's huge at NCAA's because there are so many teams (12) and everybody's really good on the 1,200 (first leg). If you can separate yourself, get yourself some space, that's huge. It's more about positioning, and getting yourself to a good spot, because if you hand off to the 800 guy and there's like 16 people around you, it's like a nightmare. People are falling down, like we did two years ago. That sucks.
Steve really put it away. He got a big lead and it was over. Luke Lefebure and Mike Atchoo were just time-trialing it after that. That's the dream. It doesn't usually work out that way, but I think that's what you look for in the 400, positioning and getting it in a good spot for the distance runners to do their thing.
Q: There are 12 teams and it's a 200-meter track. How crazy can it get at the exchange in a small space on a tight turn?
A: It gets pretty wild. I ran almost the whole first lap last year in lane five. Because there are so many people. You pass people and people are passing you. There are people inside of you, outside, in front, behind. There's a lot of fighting that goes on. It gets pretty messy, but that's why it's important to get away from people.
Q: What are your future plans?
A: I've got a job lined up in The City, starting in August or September. Consulting. I'll stick around and run for as long as I'm welcome here. Then, I'll go to work.
Jackson Shumway covers the final meters in the 4x400 relay at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships to give Stanford its first conference title in the event since 1954. Photos by David Kiefer.