Mallett Earns Gamer of the Week Honors
Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and The Putnam Herald are pleased to present this week’s male Gamer of the Week to Jackson Mallet of Buffalo Cross Country.
Jackson Mallett of Buffalo Cross Country has been having a great season for the top ranked Buffalo Cross Country team. The senior finished 4th at the Regional IV Championships, hosted by Williamstown High School on Thursday, in a time of 16:27. Buffalo won the Regional Championship by 8 points over a strong Williamstown team. “Jackson has been a rising competitor and contributor to our team for 4 years. This team would not be complete without him. We have our team superstars, but Jack is our backbone. He provides us with tremendous depth and has been crucial to our success this season,” said head cross country coach Dominic Rich.
Mallet has been a consistent performer for Buffalo this season with multiple top 5 finishes including a 5th place finish at the Wirt County Wetlands Invitational. According to the Run WV Runner Rankings the senior is currently ranked as the 10th best runner in Single A and held off several top 10 runners from Williamstown to help Buffalo win the meet. Looking ahead, Mallet said “It’s hard to believe I am a senior, the past 3 years have gone so fast. I am looking forward to states, and I am looking for a pretty good performance, I feel good, I feel training has been going well, and I expect good things out of it.”
Mallet started running cross country in eighth grade when George Washington Middle School added the program. He ran that first year and fell in love with the sport. He says he likes the fun environment where everyone is nice and just tries to run fast. When discussing role models, he said he likes reading about Steve Prefontaine and how he was tough, gritty, and wasn’t the most talented but worked super hard to achieve what he did. Closer to home, Mallett attributes a lot of his success to his coaches who have shared their knowledge on running with him, and his teammates who push him every day in practice.
In addition to cross country, Mallett plays basketball and runs track for Buffalo and is a member of National Honor Society, Link Crew, and Bison for Christ. The senior plans to run cross country in college and is still weighing his options.
Please look for other local high school athletes to be named in next week’s male Gamer of the Week Sponsored by Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc., and The Putnam Herald.
AJ WHITE, MS, MBA, CSCS, IS AN INSTRUCTOR AT POTENTIAL PLUS.