Jack’s trip to the International Co-Championship started in early February at the local Knights of Columbus Free Throw competition.  Jack easily won the competition by sinking 15 of 15 possible free throws.  His nearest competitor shot 9 of 15.  At Districts in early March, Jack completed 18 of 25 to win and move on to Regionals in Kalamazoo 2 weeks later.  At Regionals, he needed 21 of 25 to win the 3rd round and hit 14 of his last 15 to give him 21. 

On March 20th, the Marszalecs traveled to Mt. Pleasant so that Jack could compete for the State Championship.  9-14 year old boys and girls, representing 7 Lower Peninsula dioceses were there to compete.  When it was time for the 12 year old boys, they drew to determine the order of shooters and Jack found himself shooting 2nd.  Jack put up a 21 of 25 and was the leader.  After all the competitors were through shooting, Jack had won by 2 shots!

However, when the next group started their competition, they realized that they were using a girls’ basketball instead of a boys’ basketball in the competition.  Since they were competing against the Upper Peninsula for the overall State Champion, as well as internationally for the International Champion, it was decided that all 12 year old boys would shoot over.  With the pressure on, Jack hit his first 21 free throws in route to a 24 of 25!  With this performance, he won both the Lower Peninsula and the overall State Champion titles.  Jack's performance put him the running for the International title, which is determined based on his record in the competitions.  The Marszalecs received notification by mail that Jack was the International Co-Champion for his age bracket in May, 2010.  Congratulations Jack! 

Jack is the son of Dave and Laurie Marszalec of St. Joseph.