Ashland Source will select one student athlete to be recognized as the Park National Bank Athlete of the Month during the 2023-24 school year. Nominations for Athlete of the Month are accepted from Athletic Directors and Coaches, but are ultimately chosen by Ashland Source and are based on the student’s exceptional athletic performance, effective teamwork and achievement in their communities. Park National Bank is proud to support this initiative and is giving the athletic department of each school $1,000 in honor of each athlete chosen.
ASHLAND — Jayden Goings could have gotten stuck in a few different shadows.
The Ashland High School junior track standout has an older brother — former Arrow Kamrin Knowlton Goings — who qualified to the state championships in 2018 as part of one of the most talented track and field teams in area history.
Goings’ father, Jason Goings, has been the athletic director and assistant principal at AHS for the past nine years and was a national championship-qualifying runner at Ashland University.
And when Jayden thinks about Arrows he wants to emulate the most, former Ashland star hurdler Hudson McDaniel is at the top of the list.
Regardless of the family history and his high goals, the junior found a way to settle into his own spotlight this spring.
A qualifier to this year’s Division I state championships for Ashland in three different events — the only boy at AHS other than McDaniel to do so in at least the last two decades — Goings is the Park National Bank Athlete of the Month for the Ashland Source.
“The dude is hard-working,” Arrows head coach Ryan Stackhouse said. “I tried to get the kids to take a couple weeks off, or at least a week off, and he’s already out there (the Monday after the state meet) working out with football.
“He’s already out there being a leader, telling people where to go, what to do. He’s just always trying to get better, always working. It’s not just a few months — he’s all-year-round.”
Goings had to steadily work his way up to becoming one of the best on the track in Ohio.
As a freshman, he broke his hip during a hurdling workout at AHS. The injury was so bad that he said he crawled off the track and onto the field turf in agonizing pain.
But his recovery from that setback and his love for the sport helped turn his junior year into one for the record books.
“I’ve always had a deep spot in my soul for (track),” Goings said. “I just can’t go without it and I’m always constantly thinking about it.
“This season, it was amazing. I made plenty of memories with family, friends, competitors and I also had a really good time just competing overall.”
Goings set a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles during his fourth-place finish in the regional meet at Port Clinton (14:47). That time would have gotten him state runner-up in both the Division II and Division III state meets this year.
He also was part of the Ashland 4×200 relay that set the school record three different times this spring. The quartet of Goings, Jacob Holbrook, Ayden Behrendsen and Braydon Martin was fourth at regionals in an AHS-best 1:28.43, taking 14th at state (1:30.74).
And the 4×400 relay crew of Goings, Gavin Hoffman, Behrendsen and Tyler Sauder also was a state-qualifying unit with an at-large bid after a 3:21.77 at regionals.
Only Hudson McDaniel — who placed third in the state in the 300 hurdles, fourth in the 110 hurdles and was part of a pair of state-qualifying relays in 2018 — has had a busier week at the state meet for the Arrows in recent decades.
Goings said his goal is to match McDaniel’s speed, form and endurance by the time his high school years are up. Those are high standards when considering McDaniel’s school-record times in both the 110 (14.09) and 300 (37.92) hurdles.
Goings also said his older brother, Kamrin, is another student-athlete he wants to try to mirror on the track and in his schooling.
“I just want to break records and have that plaque up there that has my name on it,” Jayden said.
His father was a scholarship athlete at Ashland University, where he played wide receiver and also was a hurdler for the Eagles.
Jason Goings eventually coached track, football and cross country at Mansfield Senior before taking his current jobs at AHS, where he’s also an assistant coach on the track team, often working with his son.
Jayden said he feels he’s held to a very high standard because of who his father is, but said he feels like he’s met the challenge. He said working together on the track has created a bond that helps them communicate even better.
“I love my dad, I’m proud that he’s in my life and I’m happy that he’s actually able to coach me,” said Jayden, who also spoke of his mother and younger brother, Megan and Mason Goings.
He said he remembers growing up watching the Olympics and wanting to be among those athletes someday.
Stackhouse, himself a state-qualifying hurdler for Ashland in 2005, said the soon-to-be senior brings that mentality to the track every day, where his teammates seem to gravitate toward him.
The coach even compared Goings’ persona and leadership qualities to those of former AHS and Ashland University star quarterback Taylor Housewright. The All-Ohioan led the Arrows to their only Final Four appearance in football in 2007.
“Even at practice, we don’t have anybody that’s ever been like him,” Stackhouse said. “He’s loud, obnoxious, funny. But then when it’s time to get after it, he gets after it.
“He’s still got a lot of room to grow, he’s got the ability to go a lot faster. … Just working on some of those little things, he’s got a lot of potential this next year.”
One of the critical pieces to Goings’ breakout season was senior hurdling teammate Braydon Martin. After Goings qualified to the indoor state meet in the 60 hurdles, he and Martin seemed to trade top finishes at meets all spring.
The two were among the best hurdlers at the highly regarded Mansfield Mehock Relays. Then when the Ohio Cardinal Conference Championships rolled around, Goings would have taken first in the 300 hurdles with his PR of 38.98 had Martin not set an OCC meet record in 38.27.
Martin made state in the 300 hurdles and as part of the Ashland 4×200 relay, and Stackhouse said the duo’s passion and desire for success was infectious.
“You don’t always have those types of kids where they can work side-by-side,” the coach said. “I know a lot of people don’t want to compete this day and age, but it’s good for kids to be able to (be challenged).”
“This year was everything I could have asked for, really,” Goings said. “Our chemistry together was just nuts, and (that) to go along with our competitiveness was crazy.”
With his senior year still ahead of him, Goings is working this summer as part of a maintenance crew for the Ashland schools. He’s also had a job at the Salvation Army Ashland Kroc Center that he loved.
A talented singer, he has performed for Acapella Choir and Sing and Swing at AHS while also singing in state solo competitions.
He said he could see himself getting into something in the math, marketing or entrepreneurship fields in college, and added that staying on the track as long as he possibly can would be a dream come true.
“I’ve had some decent exposure (for colleges),” Goings said, “so hopefully after this season, coaches are able to see really what I was capable of doing.”
