Jacobs Grad Evan Jager Prepares for Summer Olympics in Rio

Photo credit: Evan Jager Twitter page

Jacobs graduate Evan Jager is prepping for a return trip to the Olympics this summer.

Jager, 27, will try out in July for the U.S. Track & Field team, which will be headed to Rio de Janiero in August for the 2016 summer Olympics, the Daily Herald reports. Jager, a 2007 graduate of Jacobs High School, competed in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase finals at the Summer Olympics in London in 2012, finishing in sixth place with a time of 8:23.87.

At that time, Jager had only competed in the men's steeplechase race seven times. Jager, who has always been a strong distance runner, seems to have found his true niche in the steeplechase.

Jager qualified for the World's team in the 5,000-meter run in 2009 and then, in early 2012, decided to give the steeplechase a shot. He qualified for the Olympics during his fourth shot at the steeplechase at the end of June 2012 and broke the North American record in Monaco weeks before the 2012 Olympics.

A lot has changed since his sixth place finish in London in 2012 and Jager is a "clear favorite" to return from Rio de Janiero with a medal, according to the Daily Herald.

"I'm pretty confident at this point," Jager told the Daily Herald. "I'm in a completely different place than I was the last time in 2012 for the Olympic trials. While I was fit, there was still so much about the steeplechase that I didn't know. Now, I feel like much more of a veteran of the event."

It All Started With a Bet

When Evan Jager was 12 years old, his father made a bet with him.

Joel Jager could tell his son had a gift as a runner and challenged him to run a mile — which Evan then did in 6 minutes and 12 seconds. Wanting to push him to a faster time, Joel Jager asked Evan how fast he thought he could one day run the mile.

Evan Jager set that goal at five minutes. And his dad said once he did that he would buy him a mustang.

“I have no recollection of why I said five minutes,” Evan Jager told Patch in a 2012 interview. “But I just told him I could. Part of the reason why I said five minutes, I guess, was because I have always been someone to set the bar extraordinarily high for myself.”

By the end of 8th grade, Evan Jager had a mustang sitting in his driveway.

In high school, he would go on to win four state titles for Jacobs in track and cross-country, the Northwest Herald reports. He then headed to Wisconsin for a year before leaving with Badgers coach Jerry Schumacher to run professionally in Oregon with Nike, according to the Northwest Herald.

More via the Daily Herald

More on Patch

• Evan Jager Places Sixth in Olympic Steeplechase; Community Shows Support for Algonquin Native
• From Youth Athlete to Olympian: Evan Jager Shares His Road to Success