This is part of a series of interviews with former Cortland track and field and/or cross country individual national champions. This interview was conducted by Cortland track and field All-American Reilly Quinn '26 in 2026.
Interview Menu
Jack Flood '18
Overview:
Jack Flood is a former NCAA National Champion in both the indoor heptathlon and the outdoor decathlon. Flood then went on to compete professionally in track and field as well as to represent the United States in international competition. Flood has had a successful post-collegiate athletic career with accomplishments such as placing 5th at the U.S. Olympic trials for Paris 2024. He still currently holds the school records in the heptathlon and decathlon. Flood is currently training to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials for LA 2028. The Blue Point, N.Y. native currently resides in Texas.
Why did you choose Cortland?
So the reason I chose Cortland was a little different. Originally my first college was SUNY Delhi for two years in a program for PE. I was kind of a naive 18-19 year old always thinking, I want to go division one, I want to division one. Back then SUNY Delhi was a junior college. But any school I looked at didn't have a physical education program. I saw SUNY Cortland at meets and I liked how they were very team oriented and very structured. They had a multi, Connor Christopherson, and he was kind of viral in my head. He beat me either my freshman or sophomore year. So, overall, it just made sense to go to Cortland. I had some friends there that I visited my freshman year of college as well. It was such an upgrade to where I was and it's such an athletics school as well. Everyone is active, so to me, it made sense to finish my degree there and chase that national title.
What do you remember about your national title season(s)?
So, that was my senior year when I won my first indoor title. My junior year, my first year at NCAAs, I thought I was gonna win it all. I was the first seed going into the indoor championship, but then I got third. It was really upsetting to me at the time and then my senior year I knew it was my last year and had to do it. That year was just pure focus. It was also a lot of fun, we also had other teammates making the national meets. It was great having training partners and having teammates from other events. When you're winning it's a lot of fun. I just remember waking up every day excited the whole year because there was such a big goal and it was a group effort. It was just a lot of fun, every day we just trained hard, ate at The Bistro and went to bed. Then we did it all again. It was the same thing every day, but we were getting better and progress is happiness. It was good to do it with people you enjoy being around. There's nothing better than that. The national championship was a few day event, but the training during the year was the experience that made it enjoyable. That was everything.
What was winning your first title like?
I was ecstatic. It was a huge relief; in the multis it's a score system. Each event you get a score. I was doing terribly at first. I put too much pressure on myself. I woke up at 5am blasting music and drank a bunch of caffeine. When I got to the meet I was zapped out a little. I almost fouled out of the long jump. The high jump went terribly, especially because I jumped really well at SUNYACs two weeks before. My main mantra was “just trust” because I knew I had a good day two coming up. I showed up with a good attitude on day two, and did well in the hurdles. I did okay in the pole vault and then I was down 8 points to win the meet in the 1000 meter. I prepared so much for that event not knowing it would come down to it. I knew if I beat this one athlete by one second I was a national champion. I got an extra surge of energy and thought “I'm gonna do this.” Leading with that confidence and then executing, I was a huge ball of energy.
I remember finishing and then screaming at the top of my lungs because I worked so much. It looked like I wasn't going to win after day one because of the mistakes I made. So, I guess that struggle made it worthwhile and so much better than it could've been if everything went right. It was a ripple of energy.
What is your favorite memory of Cortland?
My favorite memory of Cortland was the routine. Just waking up early, reading and doing what I could do to prepare for the day. Have a good breakfast in the dining halls, go to class and prepare for practice. Have an amazing practice and then go to the hot tub and stretch. Do my homework, go to bed, and do it again. Plus during your routine you're engaging with at least 50 people because everywhere you walk you see people. The aspect of community and routine was my favorite. There wasn’t a singular moment, it was the structure and routine every single day. That's the memory I have. It's been almost 10 years since college. I don't think about school much or anything particular, It's just the routine I had. You are your routine and what you do every day. That's what I remember the most.
Can you recall any specific meet that was your favorite and why?
My favorite meet was the indoor national meet. Although, the most memorable meet was my senior year of SUNYACs when we hosted and it was rainy. The day before I had twelve fajita tacos and got food poisoning. So, I just remember I was at a terrible spot physically; I lost twelve pounds, but I still got myself to show up at the meet. I won the high jump, I ran a terrible hurdle time and had a terrible long jump. Despite that I enjoyed that meet because it was a very big feat mentally to show up and get points for the team. That was one that we won as a team. It wasn’t very enjoyable in the moment, but looking back on it, it was. I actually beat Nick in high jump (Nick Vachon ‘17, 2016 NCAA outdoor high jump champion).
If you could go back and change one aspect of your athletic or academic career, what would it be and why?
It actually would have been transferring from SUNY Delhi sooner. I didn’t know at the time that I could transfer after the first semester. I wish I would have gone to Cortland to begin with. My parents didn’t go to college, so we didn't know how it worked. We thought I had to stay for two years before transferring when I could have just done it right away. That year and a half being in a better environment at Cortland probably would have been way better. Because I didn't know any better, I stayed at Delhi. That’s the biggest change I would’ve made. If you’re in a bad environment, you shouldn’t rationalize why you have to stay there. You should try to move and act to change things as quickly as possible. The best thing I got out of that, was if I got to a certain point with my decathlon score at Delhi with the worst facilities and no coaching, how much better would I be once I got to Cortland? I knew what really bad was and really good was. Once I got to Cortland, we had the indoor track, and a lot of coaches, and a better system. Every day was Christmas day. Because if you knew what I was doing every day for the last two years you would see why I was so excited to be at Cortland. I don't regret anything because everything happens for its reason and its purpose. It made the two years at Cortland even better. It made up for it with the energy and optimism from being at Cortland. I will say this: if you’re at Cortland and you're not ultra successful in your sport or what you're doing then, I don't know what you're doing. You have all of the facilities and coaching. I will say the cold sucks, if I was a collegiate track athlete now I wouldn’t train in Upstate New York. I'm in Texas now and it's sunny in December and January and it is better. That's the only downside of Cortland. It snows too far into the year.
What have you taken from being a part of the team?
I think doing life with people is the way you want to live. You want to be surrounded by like-minded people on a mission and training. It's just the force, two people can get way more accomplished than one. If you bring your best self, other people will bring their best self. I also learned what not to do. Too many people cut corners, they go out every weekend and it shows in their results. You can kind of use that when you get to the real world. You see that if you surround yourself with the right people and work hard, you’re a separate group. You get separate results compared to the people that cut corners, don't do what they're supposed to do, complain, so they get other results. You don't want to do that. Choose the right path. There’s two groups: the people that take it seriously and want to get better, they focus and make the right decisions and surround themselves with good people. Then there's another part of the team that complains. They say it's the coaches fault, they go out and get drunk, they don't go to the weight room, they skip things. Then they wonder why they don’t get a good result. So I just learned what not to do, what to do, and you always pick the group of people who are going to elevate you.
What are you doing now?
In 2026 my main focus is making the 2028 team in LA. I got 5th at the Olympic Trials in 2024. I got 9th in 2021. If you look at the pattern, you know 9th to 5th, what could be in 2028? So my main focus is doing everything I can to make that team. That’s all I'm doing. Training every day. I decided to take an off year because it's not a championship year. So, I'm working on a lot of my weaknesses and preparing my body to be laser focused and compete in my last years. So 2028 will be my last year. To cap it off, making the team will be historic. It’s definitely a step of faith to take a year off because I want to compete and get better. I know this time can be used to make the last two years worth it even more.
Do you have any advice for Cortland XC/TF athletes now?
The biggest thing is that you have to set a goal. You have to take time to analyze and monitor what you believe you can do. Then, before I went to Cortland, I emailed Coach Patrick and said: “I want to win the national title”. I already visualized and estimated what I have to do to win the national title, and I believed it. So, set a goal and believe you can do it. Step 2: wake up every single day doing everything you have to do necessary to make that goal happen. Even if that means waking up a little early, doing 40 minutes of extra work after practice, or even 20-30 minutes of extra work before practice to get ready. Going to bed on time, all of these little things, every single day. That's what will get you to that goal. Yes it’s a lot of work and a lot of time, but when you get the results other people aren't getting, that's the best feeling in the world–winning. If you’re going to do it anyway, you might as well get the best results and outcome. If me and someone else are spending the same amount of time on the track, but they are doing something else different mindset wise or off the track, there are different results. They might not be doing everything like reading, watching film, or all of the small things to get them ready and primed to execute when it matters most. The ironic thing is, everyone looks at the people who are doing great things, yet they are not willing to do what it takes to be that person when they can just do it.
