Runner breaks state record
At the Turkey 10 Miler, held in Mobile Nov. 19, Bell broke the state’s 10-mile record for 12 year olds, coming in at 1:10:51, four minutes ahead of the current record.
Jase Bell, a 12-year-old-old Madison runner, recently broke in track and cross-country.
At the Turkey 10 Miler, held in Mobile Nov. 19, Bell broke the state’s 10-mile record for 12 year olds, coming in at 1:10:51, four minutes ahead of the current record.
Over the Thanksgiving break, he participated in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship in Charlotte, N.C. This race is said to be the largest and most competitive cross country race in the South.
“We’ve been training all season and building up,” Bell said, who is also a student at Liberty Middle School. “It’s kind of funny because you drive 16 hours to race just under 12 minutes. It was fun, though. I do it for fun.”
Bell’s goals are to break the Alabama state record in the 10-miler, 10 years in a row, and to make the All-Foot Locker team every year in every division from fourth grade to senior year. He isn’t too far away from those goals. He has set the state record for the past four years and has made the Foot Locker team five years in a row.
“I don’t know how he comes off of a 10-miler, and runs another cross county race the next weekend,” said Bell’s father and coach Drew Bell. “That’s what we’ve done for the past four years. He really wants to keep these streaks alive.”
Bell regularly wears a t-shirt that reads: “Wins don’t come cheap.” That’s the motto he follows.
“We spend a lot of money and time on the road,” Drew said. “On Thanksgiving, he was out doing work outs. I really think he has a lot of desire and will. He just doesn’t show up, he puts his time in it.”
This past summer at the AAU Club National Track and Field Championship, Bell won the National Championship in the pole vault and made All-American in two other events: the multi-event pentathlon (100m hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump and 1500m) and in the triple jump.
