Some students are athletically gifted enough to excel at multiple sports and Jacob Kauppila, junior, is one of them. However, Kauppila has decided to give up on cross country in favor of tennis.

“I am not a competitive runner anymore,” Jacob Kauppila, junior, said.

He will pursue his interest in tennis further by looking forward to eventually playing for a selective NCAA division three school. Some schools high on his radar are Colgate, Carleton and Tufts.

This cross country season Kauppila had a special arrangement with the cross country coaches.

“I was able to still go to practice, but I didn’t compete in any of the races,” Kauppila said.

The arrangement allowed Kauppila to run the cross country workouts as a tool to stay in shape for tennis.

Kauppila has had an impressive tennis record at MHS.

“He will end up being the winningest player by the time he graduates, probably by the end of this year,” tennis coach Alex Nelle said. “He’s improved a ton from last season to this year.”

Kauppila’s brother, class of 2014, Noah, is a Gatorade Player of the Year for cross country.

“My motive for doing tennis wasn’t to separate from him,” Kauppila said. “I like to be known for tennis instead of Noah’s brother.”

Kauppila is the one spot on varsity tennis. He and Jack Shi, freshman, will compete in doubles together. Their goal is to make it to State like Kauppila did last year with partner, class of 2014, Jack Harris.