He’s not a natural runner.Rather, Jacob Ruby is a testament of the goals achievable through a healthy dose of hard work.The Warrenton senior nearly quit cross country as a freshman. His running experience as a middle schooler had been less-than-satisfactory.But prodding from a coach convinced him to stick with one of the school’s most successful sports.The progress Ruby would make over the next three years would astonish even the modest teenager himself.“I’m definitely not a natural runner,” said Ruby. “I wasn’t even going to run in high school, but Mr. (Mike) Shaw talked me into it.”After shaving a remarkable five minutes off his times as a freshman, Ruby found himself lining up alongside 168 other competitors at the MSHSAA Championships on Saturday.The last race of his career would be at the pinnacle of the sport, on the state course at Oak Hills Golf Club in Jefferson City.“The whole bus ride here, I was thinking about my career,” said Ruby. “My freshman year I was awful. Each year I progressively got faster, and to finish at state is the cherry on top of the sundae.”And while Ruby’s performance put him nowhere near the medal podium, it was of little concern. He had accomplished personal goals ten times over.“I didn’t expect to be in the Top 25,” acknowledged Ruby. “I ran to have fun and get my time goal of under 19:00. I reached that goal so I was really happy.”Ruby had been to the state meet before in support of his teammates but not competing. But having witnessed the magnitude of the event still didn’t prepare him for the overwhelmingness of it.“It was so much more challenging than I anticipated,” said Ruby. “As a spectator, it all kind of went over my head. It’s completely different and a whole new world when you’re running it.”Ruby ran a personal best 18:28, placing 115th.Two years ago, his time would have placed him near the back of the pack. Even two months ago, he still had a lot of ground to cover if a trip to state was going to be a reality.Ruby claimed his first GAC Conference medal in mid-October before landing 10th at conference.“It shows how hard he worked to do what he did in conference and districts,” said Coach Spoede. “Most of his career he’s been in the 20s or 19s. Just the last month, he’s gotten into the 18s. If you come running in the mid-18s on this course, that’s a pretty successful day for him.”His achievement was hard-earned, a product of commitment and dedication to a sport than can often be more grueling than fun.“It was never something that was easy for me,” said Ruby. “I expected it to be difficult and practiced as hard as I could to try to make it.”

Warrenton senior Jacob Ruby concluded his career at the MSHSAA Championships on Saturday.

By Derrick Forsythe, Record Sports Editor