Jacob Gebhardt ’18 is the son of Marc '89 and Nikki (Kested) Gebhardt '92. Jacob is the winner of ten varsity letters in cross country, swimming, and track over his high school career. In cross country, Jacob was a dominant presence in the sport all four years of his high school career. He was named First Team All-Conference all four years, placing in the top seven at the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference meet every year during that time — a streak which culminated with Jacob being crowned conference champion his senior year. A three-time state qualifier, Jacob was regional champion both his junior and senior years and sectional champion his senior year. He additionally led the Golden Warrior Boys’ Cross Country team as captain his junior and senior years and helped take the Golden Warriors to their first state appearance as a team in 33 years in 2016 where he finished in seventh place as an individual. His senior season, Jacob grabbed a second-place finish at state as an individual. Jacob was also a three-time MVP and was named First Team All-State his junior and senior years.Jacob also demonstrated dedication and leadership on the swimming team. He received the Hustle Award his sophomore and junior years and served as captain during his junior and senior swimming seasons. As a member of the swim team, Jacob was a part of the sectional team as a junior and both the sectional and state qualifying team as a senior. On the track, Jacob continued to be a standout runner. During his time as a Golden Warrior, he qualified for state four times. Those four state appearances included two top ten finishes in the 1600 — in 10th place his sophomore year and second place his junior year, ranking eighth in the nation among all juniors in the mile with a time of 4:10.09. During his junior year Jacob was also the NIB-12 conference champion in the 1600 and 3200. His senior track season, Jacob led the boys’ track team to a sixth place finish at state and personally finished in fifth place in the 3200. Along with receiving the DuWayne Dietz Award for Excellence in Track his sophomore, junior and senior years, Jacob was named All-Conference all four years and All-State both junior and senior year. Jacob currently holds the Sterling High School boys’ 1600 record with a time of 4:14.51. As a senior, he also broke his own three-mile record in cross country with a time of 14:23 at the state finals (The cross country record had stood since 1974).Academically, Jacob earned NIB-12 Academic All-Conference Honorable Mention in all three sports. Jacob was also a member of National Honor Society and a three-year publications member, serving as co-editor-in-chief his senior year.Jacob will continue his cross country and track careers at Indiana University, where he intends to major in business. In his spare time, Jacob enjoys spending time with friends and family, playing ultimate frisbee and skiing.