Orlando, 12/22/08: After a successful fall cross country season, Circle Christian School (CCS) senior Jason McLeod has chosen the small, Dayton Tennessee, Christian college in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains for his athletic and academic pursuits.
This fall Jason set his 5K personal and CCS school record of 16:00.69 at the FL Runners.com Invitational meet, placed #1 in 1A District 3, placed #1 in 1A Region 2, placed #9 in 1A State Championship, was selected as an Orlando Sentinel Varsity Boy Classroom Star, was selected as a Florida Athletic Coaches’ Association Senior All Star and was named to the Orlando Sentinel’s All-Central Florida Boys Cross Country Team. In his search for a college for next year, he has received athletic scholarship offers at six schools. This autumn he qualified for the Bright Futures Scholarship – Florida Academic Scholars Award and received additional academic scholarship offers from each of the schools. Jason’s junior year track personal records include 2:03.25 in the 800-meter, 4:36.19 in the 1600-meter and 10:37.00 in the 3200-meter.
Jason has been parent educated in all but one year (9th grade). Partnered with Circle Christian School, Jason has an unweighted 3.90 high school GPA and 4.00 dual enrolled college GPA via dual enrollment at Valencia Community College. In high school, this high achiever has participated in Circle’s collegiate style courses, Florida Virtual School, video course and self-taught, parent guided courses.
Bryan is a Christian liberal arts college offering bachelor's degrees in 18 areas and the Master of Business Administration degree. U.S. News&World Report has recognized the college for 14 consecutive years as being among the Top Tier of Southern liberal arts colleges. Bryan College won the 2007 AAC Cross Country Championships after finishing second in 2006. In 2008, Bryan Track & Field athletes received four NAIA All-American awards with their performances. Bryan has awarded Jason generous academic and athletic scholarships. Coach Rodney Stoker drove eight hours from the campus in Tennessee to personally sign Jason & welcome him into the Bryan family.
| HISTORICAL RESULTS FOR JASON McLEOD IN STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES | ||||
| Event | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| State | DNQ | DNQ | 28 – 17:17 | 9 – 16:16 |
| Region 2 | 42 – 19:32 | 24 – 18:14 | 11 – 17:01 | 1 – 17:18* |
| District 3 | 26 – 19:41 | 13 – 18:13 | 4 – 17:35 | 1 – 17:16* |
| Personal Rec’rd | 19:32 | 18:13 | 17:01 | 16:00 |
| *2008 Venues changed (harder/race slower) from prior years for Regional & District races. | ||||
Interview:
What were the factors that led you to choose Bryan?
When I was considering all the different college choices, I knew that I wanted a small Christian school. I also wanted to be a part of a running program that was both growing in numbers and excelling in races. I also looked for a school in which the classes would be taught from a Christian perspective. In my opinion, Bryan meet all of these qualifications the best. I really felt comfortable with the school from the first time I set foot on campus.
What did you learn from your college visits?
Through several of my college visit experiences, I was disappointed with the language and the attitude of some of the students. At Bryan, I was welcomed and felt like I could really continue to grow academically, athletically, and above all spiritually.
What influenced you to choose running as your sport?
As a kid, I was always into baseball. I played it every season that I could. Originally, I decided to run cross-country my freshman year to stay in shape after not making the fall varsity baseball team. The first day of practice, I barely made it through a mile before stopping. As the season progressed, I really enjoyed the competition and thrill that the sport gave me. After trying both track and baseball in the spring, I realized that I would have to make a choice between them. The next year I chose baseball, but in God’s providence the baseball team was cut my junior year, which allowed me to dedicate my efforts completely to running.
Why have you improved so consistently from year to year in high school?
At the beginning of my high school career I did not have much coaching, and I was kind of just running to have fun, but after a couple of years and three different coaches my perspective changed. I began to run races to compete for a win and not merely for enjoyment. I decided that just running a race was not good enough. In I Corinthians 9:24 says, “In a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize … run in such a way as to get the prize.”
What goals do you have for college and beyond?
In college, I would like to continue to grow in my sport and overcome new obstacles and set new standards for myself. As I continue my academic and running career at Bryan, I hope to continue to grow in every area of my life, so that when I am ready to enter the working world I have a strong Christian education and worldview.