Recognized early on as a standout freshman, Jackson Cantwell has continued to excel in both sports and academics, surpassing his impressive high school debut. Over the past two years, he has solidified his reputation with standout performances, earning a spot on the 2023-2024 Class 6 All-State football team, setting a top-10 record in shot put, achieving a 33 on the ACT, and excelling in college courses. He still has two more years at Nixa High School to grow and improve while being a role model for other student-athletes.
Q. How does the anticipation around your abilities this year differ from your freshman year?
A. This year it’s been more of a reality for me. I’ve actually been able to get on the field and show what I can do… I’m excited to see how far I get to go.
Q. How do local high school meets differ from those bigger competitions?
A. We still get to play high-level competitors. Not many people see southwest Missouri as an athletics hotbed, but we have some pretty good sports like Football, Track [and] Basketball. The competitions and rivalries in the area make the games a lot more fun.
Q. Which sport do you feel most accomplished in?
A. There’s a lot of good ones. My favorite so far was winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award as a sophomore, which is probably my favorite one. I’d say my best is winning track internationals as a sophomore, which has never really been done, but I think those two are my most impressive accomplishments.
Q. What academic accolades do you have?
A. I got a 4.0 GPA over the last two years, and I’ve currently passed three college classes for nine to 10 credit hours.
Q. What has motivated you to take more advanced courses in high school?
A. If you’re going to go pro for football –NFL-type stuff– you can leave in a minimum of three years and if I play good enough, that would be the goal. That’s something I’d want to have the option to do.
Q. What pushes you to put a lot of effort into your academics when you are already a standout athlete?
A. My parents have kind of instilled in me that being able to excel academically will help you, and a lot of other stuff that teaches you how to just focus and be able to study for something that you normally wouldn’t.
Q. What do you do that helps you balance being a student-athlete?
A. I try to focus in class, get my work done and try to use all my free time to get as much work done as possible so I can focus on sports.
Q. What advice can you give to future student-athletes at NHS?
A. Buy into the process. The process is great here, they [have] got a great program going on and if you put in the work, the results will come… We’ve had some great progress this last year and we plan to do better this year.
