Miami football commit treated like celebrity by peers

JEFFERSON CITY — About a half hour before he was supposed to start warming up for the Class 5 shot put final, Francis Howell Central junior Matthew Hopkins couldn’t help but stare as Nixa standout Jackson Cantwell walked by.

“I’m starstruck,” Hopkins, who was competing against the nation’s No. 1 football prospect, couldn’t help but say.

The 6-foot-8, 320-pound Miami (Florida) commit started to warm up as spectators flocked to the throwing pit. Well over 100 crammed into the small area on the southeast side of Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City to get a glimpse at something that could be historic.

One female athlete participating in Saturday’s Missouri Class 4-5 track and field championships brushed his arm when he walked back to retrieve his shot.

“Oh my God, I just touched him,” she told her friend.

Cantwell’s six tosses in the Missouri Class 5 shot put championship proved to be a spectacle. He won his third-straight state championship, breaking his state record (again), and finishing one centimeter shy of the 46-year-old NFHS record, set by eventual Olympic silver medalist and all-pro NFL defensive tackle Michael Carter.

As jaw-dropping as the 23.45 meter (76 feet, 11 ¼ inches) throw was, the way those in the crowd and his opponents spoke about the 16-year-old might have been more entertaining.

“It still feels weird,” Cantwell, after taking care of many in a long line seeking a photo with him, said. “I don’t know how to feel about it yet. I’ve just gotten good at dealing with it, I guess.”

With the event set to begin at 2:30 p.m., spectators tried to claim a spot in the half hour leading up to it. The public address announcer routinely informed the crowd that the event was about to begin, and they wouldn’t want to miss it.

Even in warmups, everyone got out their phones to record each throw as if they were at a Taylor Swift concert. A hush frequently fell over the crowd, and a roar followed when the shot put cleared the markings in the dirt and threatened to hit the fence 80 feet away.

“Holy aura!” one spectator yelled from the crowd after a warmup toss. Some asked if he’d participate in a future Olympics. Others imagined the possibilities if he were to return for a senior track season, knowing he would be graduating early to enroll in Miami for the spring semester.

“We were around some Rolla kids at the Hillcrest Invitational, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, we’re in the presence of the nation’s leader,” Kickapoo senior Mogan Nicholls said after finishing fourth. “You get used to it at this point.”

Nicholls is among the few who have had the opportunity to be part of the spectacle at several meets. Accepting that they were probably competing for second place early in their careers, he and Nixa junior Hayden Mays, who finished second behind his best friend in the shot put and discus, know they could’ve won a championship in most other states.

The two roll their eyes and laugh at some of the comments they’ve heard from fans and competitors. The two know Cantwell as “Jackson” rather than any type of celebrity.

“It’s like, ‘He’s just a kid, dude, let him live his life,'” Mays laughed. “He’s not doing this for attention. He’s just doing this because he likes it.”