Halfway through the cross-country state championship, Ami Jacobson had one thing in mind: “Drive those arms and pump those knees.”

The night before, Jacobson was knocking on her coach’s door and telling her that she was extremely nervous.

Kirsten Green, her coach, had two words for her: “Don’t be.”

Green said she knew Jacobson worked very hard to get to that spot, and all she had to do was just go out there and race.

“[Jacobson] is a coach’s dream,” Green said. “She does every little thing she’s asked to do, and you know that when you turn your back, she’s still going to put in the work.”

Shooting for a top-10 finish, the 19-year-old Kinesiology major knew exactly what it would take to get to the finish line.

An extra push from teammate Sequoia Gonzales and cheers from her coaches helped Jacobson finish fourth in the 3C2A State Championships for cross-country in the fall semester, earning her a new personal record of 18:12.0.

Before Jacobson found herself running at an advanced level, she was a high school student looking for a new sport. Her focus was on swimming, but she needed a sport to play in the fall and landed on cross-country.

“I didn’t make the volleyball team, so I told my mom I’ll join running because they didn’t have tryouts,” Jacobson said. “I thought it would get me into shape, and that’s how I got into it.”

Jacobson was adopted when she was very young by parents Brent and Chizuko Jacobson. She says that she is the first runner in the family, which allows her to make her own pathways.

Her mother noticed that she had an elite running ability when Ami Jacobson was just a sophomore in high school.

“[We] are not athletic at all,” her mother Chizuko Jacobson said. “Her choosing cross-country was a surprise to us, but she’s a hard worker and never misses a practice, which helps her succeed.”

Ami Jacobson ran cross-country all four years at El Segundo High School, where she was named cross-country MVP as a junior and set the girls’ 5K school record in track during her senior year.

The pandemic cut her sophomore year in high school short. The isolation guided her down cross-country’s path, Ami Jacobson said.

“[COVID-19] gave me an opportunity to realize that I actually do love the sport for what it is,” Ami Jacobson said. “I noticed that running is accessible and the environment is very enjoyable.”

Ami Jacobson knew she would attend El Camino College right out of high school, where she would have the opportunity to showcase her talents at a higher level. She met cross-country coaches Dean Lofgren and Green, whom she credits for providing her with the foundations to be a great runner.

Lofgren had already been watching her compete in high school and said that he was pleased when she decided to commit to running at El Camino.

“She was a qualifier out of high school, so she could have gone right to a four-year,” Lofgren said. “She felt it was best in her athletic development to come over with us for two seasons and then transfer.”

The decision paid off, as Ami Jacobson is now a highly decorated athlete within the running program.

In her sophomore year, Ami Jacobson earned a nod on the All-South Coast Conference First Team, as well as a 3C2A First Team All-American. She placed 10th at the 3C2A Southern California Regionals, fourth at the 3C2A SCC Championships and fourth overall at state with a new personal best.

Ami Jacobson said she trains when she’s away from the team. She sees the importance of stretching to keep herself fully healthy when it’s time to compete and runs an average of 50 to 55 miles a week to stay in running shape.

Even though she runs at the top of her class, Ami Jacobson values her academic work just as much as athletics.

“I’m an athlete, but I’m also a student at the same time,” Ami Jacobson said. “I’m going to school for academics because I know athletics always come second.”

Ami Jacobson has plans to continue her running career at a university and has been recently involved in recruiting talks. She gets calls from California State universities and has been looking into some of their programs.

She doesn’t see herself running in a professional setting but aspires to compete hard in the near future.

“I know that I have more to give to this sport,” Ami Jacobson said. “I want to be able to come out of my experience of college and say that I ran my hardest and did everything that I could do.”