Hayden Borgic's grandfather moved from the Hillsboro area to Jasper County to start a pig farm. He took out a big loan and bet everything on making it work. Hayden's father — the oldest kid — had to pick up serious slack from the beginning. The farm grew. His dad got a telecommunications degree, which Hayden describes with characteristic directness as "worthless now." So he found another road.

He got into motocross suspension work — the kind of craft where a small adjustment changes everything and every rider is built differently. He started going to tracks, talking to people, and networking. Eventually, Dave Shaw, who owns Flying S Industries in the area, caught wind of him. "This guy knows some stuff." He hired Hayden's dad as an engineer. Telecom degree, farm kid, no formal engineering training. He got the job because he was teachable.

"My dad's greatest superpower," Hayden said, "was when you don't know something, you figure it out and find the best way to do it." Out in the shop together — boats, cars, whatever comes through — they'll hit something they don't know how to handle. They get frustrated. Take a break. Hayden comes back, and his dad has already solved it. Found a forum from 2012. Watched a YouTube video. Now uses Grok. "Not complaining is step number one. Because if you complain, it just kind of cancels everything out. Keep your head down and work — but find the most efficient way."

Hayden is a senior at Newton Community High School, an Illinois State Scholar, and a runner. He puts athlete first when asked how he'd describe himself. His primary event is the 800 meter — the sweet spot, he calls it, where a runner has enough sprint base to run the 400 but enough endurance to run the mile. He runs both. He also runs the 4x4 and 4x8 relays. Last year, he picked up the 300-meter hurdles, where his endurance gives him an edge over pure sprinters. "Once they do the 300, they just peter out." His form was rough mid-season, so his friend Owen Schackmann — out for track this year with a torn ACL from football — has been coaching him. He's excited to see what he can do.

Cross country is the foundation. He's clear-eyed about it: "Cross country just has so much time, and it's just pure grit. It's just pain. You're toughing it out until things get easier." Track numbers are down this year, but the density of commitment is high. "Everybody who's there is there to work. As long as you're committed and everybody's ready to go for it."

Beyond sports, his favorite part of Newton has been the teacher-coaches — people who chose to be here. Math teacher Tim Bower coached girls' track at a rival school straight out of college, then came to Newton to coach cross country. Brock Tarr is his track and distance coach. Both are teachers first. Hayden starts his mornings in Brock Tarr’s RTI study hall. "We literally make our lifts and runs at the beginning of the week."

He also ran a business. Through the CEO program, Hayden sold and installed flagpoles. "It's definitely patriotic. It's decorative. Something everybody needs — people want it but never want to do it themselves." He directed customers to Amazon for the flags rather than upselling them. "So I didn't have to upcharge."

Next fall, he's headed to Lake Land College on a scholarship, then plans to transfer to U of I or SIUE for mechanical engineering. His brother graduated from SIUE and works at Irwin Seating in Altamont — which gave Hayden an inside look at the school. He talked to Rose Hulman's coach, too. The coach's honest answer: “You probably won't have time for anything except studying and running.” Hayden appreciated the candor.

He rates himself an introvert with extroverted tendencies — tight groups fill his battery, surface-level socializing drains it. "My brain doesn't think on the fly too well," he said. "I catch myself saying something and then later being like — shouldn't have said that." He'd rather go home, sit down, and work on something. That self-awareness, he said, is probably what keeps him from fully calling himself an extrovert.

When asked what would stick with him about growing up in Jasper County, he paused: "I would say the lack of things to do." Not as a complaint. "When you have nothing to do, you tend to find fun ways of having fun that fill the void. You tend to do things with your hands. You learn to figure things out on your own." And around here, someone always has what you need. "You got a buddy with a welder, you'll find a way to figure out how to do it."

He's also thought about failure. "You need to experience failure just so you know what it's like. Imagine living your whole life not failing — then it hits you when you're older, and you don't know what to do. You're defenseless."

He learned from someone who wasn't.