KU's Scholar Athlete

Caleb Has Miles to Go Before He Rests

Scholar-athlete-caleb-joyCaleb Joy

• School: Lafayette High
• Grade: 11
• Sports: Track, cross-country
• Academics: Caleb has a 4.25 GPA. He has taken four A.P. classes already and will take two more this year.
• Parents: Rebecca Jackson & Jason Joy

You can’t escape saying it – when it comes to school and sports, Lafayette High junior Caleb Joy goes the extra mile.

Sometimes, 57 of them. Like one week this summer when he ran 57 miles.

No wonder he’s one of the top runners in the City.

Last year as a sophomore, he helped lead Lafayette to the City and Region cross-country championships, earning All-City and All-Regions honors.

In track season, he placed fourth in the Region in the 1,600 and ran legs on the 4×800 and 4×400 teams that qualified for the State meet.

It’s not surprising that the 17-year-old became a runner – his father, Jason, was an All-State runner at Dunbar and earned a scholarship to Indiana Wesleyan.

Caleb started his career as a sixth grader and made the Lafayette JV a year later when he was All-City and All-Area in cross-country and track at Jessie Clark Middle.

As an eighth-grader, he won middle school County titles in the mile, 2 mile, 800 and 4×800 relay.

At Lafayette, he set the school record in the indoor 1,500 as a freshman before his breakout performance last year.

For Caleb, logging miles of road work is more than a necessary part of training, it’s close to something like meditation.

“Running is an escape from everything, from all your problems,” he said. “Everything is made so simple. It’s just running and breathing out there in nature.”

Caleb’s mother, Rebecca Jackson, sees how her son benefits, saying, “If he has a problem, he goes for a run. When he comes back, he has it all figured out.”

Caleb has figured out the classroom as well.

He carries a 4.25 GPA, has taken four A.P. classes already and will take two more this school year.

He’s a member of the school chess team and Beta Club, and volunteers with his church.

He plans to travel to Haiti on a mission trip during the winter break, and two years ago the family traveled to Joplin, Missouri to help the tornado-ravaged townspeople put their lives back together.

Caleb, who works as a lifeguard in the summer, is a striver, with a long stride.

“He’s a hard worker who does not give up,” Rebecca said. “In everything he does, he goes the extra mile.”

There it is again, that proverbial extra mile that Caleb has traversed so many times before.