Bobby Jazwinski is a state champ!

BY SCOTT DECAMP

WHITEHALL DISTRICT SCHOOLS

You might call Bobby Jazwinski a loner when he’s running, but that’s only because he’s so darn fast and tends to leave everybody behind.

“I can see him for a good 100 meters and then he’s gone,” Whitehall cross-country teammate Ian Dennis said.

All other times, Jazwinski genuinely loves being around his teammates and supporting them. He was unable to experience that last school year.

Because of Michigan High School Athletic Association transfer rules, he was ineligible to compete in MHSAA events during the 2024-25 school year after he and his siblings left Hart to attend Shelby.

Bobby Jazwinski transferred to Whitehall High School in advance of his junior year. Now he’s back on track, literally and figuratively, and making history.

“It’s awesome, really. All the guys at Whitehall are so welcoming and stuff,” Jazwinski said. “I really like the atmosphere – it’s really good athletically – and it seems like they appreciate athletics a lot more than any other school I’ve been at and it’s just a really good atmosphere there.”

Whitehall certainly appreciates Jazwinski, who completed the rare feat of assembling an undefeated season in cross country this fall. He won all 12 of his MHSAA races, including capturing the Division 2 state championship Nov. 1 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

It was a season-long goal for Jazwinski to finish undefeated and he achieved it with authority. He still has regional and national competitions coming up, unaffiliated to Whitehall or the MHSAA. 

Jazwinski plans to go to Kenosha, Wis., for the Brooks XC Midwest Championships Nov. 29. The top 10 from that race advance to the Brooks XC Championships Dec. 13 in San Diego.

Bobby’s older sister, Jessica Jazwinski, was a three-time All-American at nationals in San Diego, which were then called the Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals.

The family surprised Bobby on MHSAA state finals weekend by bringing his sister home from North Carolina to attend his race at MIS. She is a freshman for national power North Carolina State.

Bobby and Jessica are the two eldest of Bob and Katie Jazwinski’s four children and they’re particularly close. When neither were able to compete in MHSAA events last year – Jessica was a senior at Shelby at the time – they leaned on each other a great deal.

“It was just me and my sister training together,” Bobby Jazwinski recalled. “It was really hard because we went to (the 2024) state meet and all of that for cross country and it was just really tough not to run.

“It was just really hard, but for all the races we got let into (unattached), it was good. In cross country, there aren’t as many races to be let into but in track there’s a lot more. We took advantage of everything we had but, yeah, it was just really tough.”

While Jazwinski dominated for most of the 2025 cross-country season, he was pushed nearly to the brink by East Grand Rapids senior Jonah Workman in the MHSAA Division 2 state finals. Workman passed Jazwinski with about a half-mile to go. 

That’s when Jazwinski dug deep. With about 500 meters to go, Jazwinski passed Workman, who stayed with Jazwinski for about 100 meters. With about 300 meters to go, Jazwinski created a little separation and nothing was going to stop him. He finished in 15 minutes, 7.1 seconds, ahead of Workman’s 15:12.10. 

Jazwinski’s personal-record time in cross country was established this season in the MHSAA regional, where he went below the 15-minute mark with a winning time of 14:56.6.

“I just came into the (state finals) race, ‘I don’t care how I feel. I’m winning this race no matter how I feel, good or bad,’ but when Jonah passed me with about a half mile to go, I was hurting and struggling,” Jazwinski said for a Local Sports Journal story after winning the state title. “I just said to myself, ‘This is where champions are made. I’m going to take as much pain as I can in this last half-mile and I’m going to be really proud about myself after this.’”

Sharing the experience with Jessica and their tight-knit family made it all the more special.

The Jazwinskis are a big-time running family. 

Katie (Clifford) Jazwinski was an All-American in high school and she earned the distinction four times at the University of Michigan, where she was the school’s female athlete of the year in 2002. She qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 1500-meter, 3000-meter steeple, 5000-meter, 10,000-meter, and marathon. Bob Jazwinski ran cross country and track at Western Michigan University. At Hart High School, Jessica Jazwinski was a two-time MHSAA state champ in cross country and a 3200-meter state champion in track and field.

As a freshmen at Hart, Bobby Jazwinski stood only about 5-foot-8 and weighed 125 pounds soaking wet. Now 16, he has shot up to around 6-2, if not a little taller, and weighs 145.

For the most part, the longer legs help him with running.

“I definitely got it from my mom’s side because my dad is like 5-6, so I don’t think I got it from him,” Jazwinski said with a smile. “I think it helps, but overall it’s just how hard you train. I just trained super hard this summer.”

The Jazwinskis own and operate the Jazz Blueberry Farm in Shelby, where they and others have greatly benefitted from grueling training sessions on the hilly terrain.

Whether it’s working on the farm or training, a very strong work ethic has been established there.

“It just really builds your mental toughness being on a farm and stuff. We live a very blue-collar life, working hard, and that really helps us running,” Bobby Jazwinski said. “It’s really what work you put in, you get out, and that correlates to running a lot.

“In the blueberry patch, we work super hard all day and work super hard in running as well, so it really builds mental toughness and stuff like that.”

As stated previously, not being able to compete in MHSAA events while at Shelby put Bobby Jazwinski to the test.

On the flip side, it did give him a little time to reflect and reset.

“Emotionally, psychologically, it was intense for him. It was bad,” Bob Jazwinski said. “He handled it like a champ. He handles things better than mom and dad do sometimes just because we miss the camaraderie with the team, with a program, regardless of what school. Now, watching him smile and root for (his teammates) is what it’s all about.”

Added Bobby Jazwinski: “Yeah, there were a few good things (about not running in high school events). … It just helped us because we trained a lot. We’re a lot more mentally stronger, definitely, because of all the hardships we got through last year. My sister really taught me a lot because she went through a lot of hardships and getting mono and she had a lot of little injuries. My sister taught me a lot as well.”

Jazwinski, who carries a 3.8 GPA, has been running competitively since sixth grade. As for college, he said he receives text messages every now and then, but right now he’s not really focusing on it. He said he’ll likely make some visits this winter and talk to more colleges in the summer, but right now he’s focusing on running as fast as he can.

His ultimate goal is to run professionally.

“My goals in college are, I just want to do the best I can for myself,” Jazwinski said. “I know it’s a little crazy to say, but I want to win national titles and after college I want to be a pro runner. That’s just my goal. I don’t really think of anything other than running – sometimes that’s a good and bad thing – but I’m just really focused on my running and all I can think about right now is my goal to be a pro runner and do whatever I can at the highest level.”

Bob Jazwinski said that the climate and support at Whitehall has helped Bobby feel comfortable, which in turn has helped him improve his performance.

Bob Jazwinski noted that while the Whitehall coaches and teammates have fully embraced Bobby, the feeling is reciprocated.

“I would say, my favorite thing is just the positive attitude he brings to practice every day,” Whitehall coach Jeff Bassett said. “Every day is kind of approached with an excitement. There is not dread of, ‘Oh, no, it’s workout day.’ (Instead it’s) ‘Workout day is an exciting day. I get to go try my best at this workout.’ Every day is an exciting day for him and it kind of lifts up everybody.”

Added Whitehall teammate Hunter Parsons: “He really brought us together. The stuff he brought, like ropes and what not, it made us better. He has such great motivation when he runs and I think that brings us all forward.”

It can take young people a while to figure out what they want to do for a career, but Bobby Jazwinski has a crystal-clear vision for his future.

He wants to keep things rolling with his running career while there is still a lot of tread left on his tires, so to speak.

“Right now, I just want to do running,” he said. “That’s all I want to do.”