Jager to be pro runner

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While forging his high school legacy two years ago, Evan Jager dreamed of running for one of the nation’s top-notch distance programs, of competing against the nation’s best runners and of someday, perhaps, becoming an Olympian.

One thing Jager didn’t consider is what transpired in the past two months – he’s becoming a professional runner before he is 20 years old.

Jager, 19, is leaving the University of Wisconsin to move near Beaverton, Ore. and run professionally for Nike. Jager, a 2007 Jacobs graduate, won one Class AA state cross country title and three Class AA state track championships in high school.

Former Wisconsin cross country coach Jerry Schumacher, who also coached the distance runners in track, was hired by Nike to coach elite professional runners. Jager spoke at length with Schumacher and decided to make the move.

“I had hopes of being a pro after college,” Jager said. “I was pretty set on doing that. Right after Jerry told us he was going, a couple guys [on the team] asked me if he was taking me with him. I took it as a compliment. I was thinking, ‘You really think I’d be able to do that right now?’ I really didn’t think it would be an opportunity.”

Jager said as a professional he will run meets in Nike apparel and that Nike will pay for his classes at nearby Portland State. He will run some of the big invitational meets he ran at Wisconsin, but will forfeit his amateur status.

Efforts to reach Schumacher for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

Running legend Alberto Salazar coaches elite U.S. professional runners for Nike’s Oregon Project. Salazar sees Schumacher as one of the top coaching talents in the nation; Schumacher, in turn, must think similarly of Jager as a runner. He recruited Jager to Wisconsin, then coached Jager to eighth place in the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA Championships, earning All-American honors. Jager says he thinks that when Salazar eventually retires, Schumacher will succeed him.

Jager red-shirted the cross country season last fall while rehabilitating from Achilles tendinitis in his right leg.

“Missing NCAA meets won’t be as important to me as seeing the guys on our team every day in meets and practices,” Jager said. “[Schumacher and I] have a plan for what he wants me to do.”

Jager narrowly missed a spot in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 1,500, then took eighth in the World Junior final in Poland in July. It was shortly after the NCAA Championships that Wisconsin’s runners learned Schumacher was leaving. Shortly after Jager returned from Poland, he and his parents, Joel and Cathy, discussed the possibility of following Schumacher to Oregon.

Schumacher has been coaching a group of professional runners, most of whom are Wisconsin grads, in the Madison area. Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp, Tim Nelson and Simon Bairu, along with former Stanford runner Jonathon Riley, all trained with Schumacher.

Now, they all will move west, and Jager will join them.

“When I get out there [in mid-October] I’ll miss the first trimester, so I’ll get a job,” Jager said. “I’ll just be eating, sleeping and running. I’ll have a ton of resources and be devoting all my time to running.”

Jager added that he and Schumacher have set some lofty long-term goals, which include the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

“We’ve touched on it,” Jager said. “We both think that definitely should be a goal, especially in four years when I can train and build that base up. [Making the Olympic team] should be a priority. I’m not saying I should be there, but that [goal] is where my head is.”