Hempfield grad Jacob Boord competes at NCAA Division III track and field championships

The numbers don’t lie. Jacob Boord fell “just short.”

Boord, a WPIAL javelin champion while at Hempfield and a current Allegheny sophomore, nearly landed in the medals round at the recent NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Who knows where it would have gone from there?

But his best effort (201 feet, 11 inches) — he fouled on his second of three tosses — was 9 inches shy of qualifying among the top 9 for an opportunity to continue.

“It’s a blessing to compete,” Boord said. “For me, it’s always been about succeeding as a person and setting up for the future.”

So, while it was a discouraging end to the season, he said, perhaps it wasn’t a surprise.

“I was prepared, for sure,” said Boord, who grew up in the Fort Allen section of Hempfield, seemingly just a javelin’s throw from the high school building. “I took it as just another meet. I came up just short of the top nine to get three more throws. That’s life. It doesn’t always go your way. I’ll just take is as fuel for the fire next year.”

It is that selfless approach that has defined Boord, who won the 2019 PIAA Class 3A championship but was denied an opportunity to repeat as a Hempfield senior because the season was wiped out amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In the world of Division III athletics, where student-athletes attend college primarily for their classroom prowess, Boord, who carries a double major in business and computer science, displays an intense ambition on the field as well.

“I wear a lot of pride on my sleeve being a Division III athlete,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want to represent the division the best I can. Your experience is what you make it.”

In the recruiting process, Boord said Allegheny coach Justin Linzy told him he was the type of person the school coveted.

“He said he wanted to bring me here as much for that as anything. He wanted to see me succeed in the classroom and beyond, and he had faith enough in me as a competitor, too,” said Boord, whose mentors are plenty.

Beyond his family, he gives a nod, among others, to Linzy; Hempfield assistant coach Melissa White, whom he refers to as his “psychologist;” and Hayden Fox, another former Hempfield track star who also won a PIAA javelin title in 2017 and was named a high school All-American in 2016.

“Jake is an incredible kid. I’m flattered that he feels that way,” said Fox, who recently graduated from the Naval Academy, where his javelin throw of 211-6 at the recent NCAA East Preliminaries in Bloomington, Ind., was the sixth-best of his career but fell short of qualifying for the Division I Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

Fox is the standard for Boord, who said he was much younger when he began to observe Fox’s routine, which included consistent throws of more than 60 meters (196 feet, 8 inches).

“That was inspiring,” Boord said. “I was below average in the javelin at that time. I wanted to be like Hayden.”

Boord, by his own declaration, has come a long way and was planning to go to another level.

“To keep up,” he said, “I have to hold myself accountable each and every day. I reach out to just about everybody I know who is even semi-knowledgeable about the javelin. Anything I can do to better myself is how I look at it.”

Boord, with two seasons remaining, entered the Division III national event at Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, ranked No. 8 in the javelin. He said an appearance in the 2019 New Balance Outdoor Nationals high school meet helped to prepare him.

“When I got on the big stage (last month), I felt right at home,” Boord said.

The regular season began with several impressive showings by Boord, including a second-place finish at the Bucknell Invitational and third-place effort at the South Carolina Invitational. He’s not opposed to the idea of reaching the professional level as a javelin thrower.

“Finland and Germany year after year are the top throwers in the world,” Boord said. “The javelin in the USA is starting to boom a little, but there’s still no 90-meter (295 feet, 2 inches) throwers, like over there. Right now, I’m trying to get to where Hayden Fox has gone at Navy, up around the 70-meter (229-7) mark.”

Fox, who said he and Boord stay in touch and compare notes on their on-field performances, had some words of advice for his friend and former schoolmate.

“He needs to keep his foot on the gas,” Fox said of Boord, “even when it seems stagnant. Small increments of success will add up to where you need to go.”