MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — In a sport that demands determination, perseverance and courage, Jason Ernst has all that and more.
Ernst, a junior member of the Mountlake Terrace High School boys cross country team, suffers from bilateral atrophy of the optic nerve, a condition that leaves him with very limited eyesight. Generally speaking, a person with vision of 20/200 is considered legally blind. Ernst’s vision is closer to 20/400, meaning he can see at 20 feet what others with normal vision can see at 400 feet.
He can make out people and objects a few inches from his face, but beyond that he sees mostly blurred images and splotchy patches of darkness. As his mother, Marit Ernst, explained, “If he’s 3 feet away, he can’t tell if he’s talking to me or to another woman.”
Given his disability, the idea of Ernst excelling in sports might seem far-fetched. But with hard work and an unwillingness to yield to adversity, he has made himself an accomplished runner. He won varsity letters in track and field his first two years at Mountlake Terrace, and will likely earn his first cross country letter this fall.
Though he once dreamed of playing baseball and basketball, “running is a sport I can do,” Ernst said. “And it’s also a way for me to stop thinking about other stuff. I can let go of the stresses of school and (his disability), and just run.”
Having minimal eyesight “is normal for me,” he added. “I can’t really do anything about it, so I just live with it and do what I can.”
To his coaches and teammates, Ernst’s affable nature and steadfast resolve are remarkable.
“He’s a special kid,” Mountlake Terrace cross country coach Todd Weber said. “He’s one of those kids where you say, ‘I’m truly blessed to be able to coach this sport and to be around this young man.’
“He inspires me as a coach every day. And I know his teammates look at him and say ‘Wow, that kid’s not allowing his disability to get in the way of his enjoyment for running and his success.’”
Ernst, who is No. 7 on this year’s varsity, runs with special protective goggles “so if I run into something my vision won’t get worse,” he explained. But the goggles do not improve his eyesight, nor would ordinary glasses help because the problem is with his optic nerve and not his eyes.
Since cross country courses vary and can have uneven surfaces, it is a more difficult and sometimes treacherous sport for Ernst than track and field. Course impediments that other runners might easily avoid — large tree roots on park paths, for example — can go unseen, leading to painful falls.
“Last year I think he fell every race he was in,” Marit Ernst said. “This year he’s stayed upright (in every race), which is good. But if he falls, he just gets up and keeps running.”
“He might finish bloody,” Weber said, “but his mom and dad are always there (at the finish line) to give him a hug.”
Unfortunately, there are sometimes other mishaps. A few weeks ago, the Hawks went on a training run from the high school to nearby Brier Terrace Middle School. Along the way, Ernst collided with a stop sign, having misjudged the distance in the final few strides.
“It nailed him on the side of the head, and when he got to Brier Terrace we thought he had a possible concussion,” Weber said. “He was bleeding and had a shiner on the side of his cheek — thankfully, he didn’t have a concussion — but his immediate response was, ‘I’m OK, let me run.’”
And with the sense of humor that endears him to coaches and teammates, Ernst even managed a joke. “He said, ‘I figured if I hit it hard enough, maybe it’d straighten out my eyesight,’” Weber said with a chuckle.
On training runs around town he occasionally loses his way, “and we’ve had to go hunt him down,” Weber said. “We’ve also told him, ‘Jason, on road runs you have to run with somebody.’ But he wants to be in the lead. … He’s tremendously competitive, and if you mention to him that he should slow up to find out where he is he kind of looks at you like you’re crazy.”
In the classroom, Ernst has to sit in the front row and hope that teachers write large enough on their white boards for him to follow along. But he is a good student with a grade-point average of close to 3.7, and he plans to attend college with the goal of becoming either a chemical or electrical engineer, or perhaps a financial manager.
And he wants to continue running. The sport is not only challenging and fun, it has also provided feelings of acceptance and accomplishment that are particularly important to Ernst.
“Running has been huge for him because of the camaraderie with the other kids,” his mother said. “His teammates have included him and helped him out, and his coaches have been really good about working with him and getting him to perform to the best of his ability.”
There is not yet a surgery that will help her son, “but I’m hoping (it will happen) within his lifetime,” she said. His near blindness “affects every aspect of his life, from pouring a glass of milk to seeing the visual cues from people around him. But since he’s always dealt with it, I think the ‘It is what it is’ attitude comes out and he just deals with it.”
Though the future is uncertain, as it is for any child, “you never want to limit your kids,” she said. “We keep pushing the academic, and if the running part comes along with that, great. But we always just encourage. And we always say, ‘God has plans for him.’”
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