Brandon Jones

 

     My first time competing was at the age of 13 where I ran the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, and long jump for my middle school. My first time jumping I went 17 feet (which at the time for a 13 year old boy was pretty far.).  At 16, I competed for my high school in Virginia beach, Virginia  Salem High School. Initially, before becoming a Jumper, i competed in the 200, 400,500, and the high school relays (4 x 100 meter dash and 4 x 400 meter dash). It wasn’t until later that year that I joined the world of Jumping permanently. During those years as a high schooler, I consistently competed in all of my events at a competitive level for those 3 years gaining a few accolades and medals throughout my development high school years. Post high school, however is when I began to develop into the elite athlete I have come to be.

 

     After a year training at the collegiate level, my triple jump had become my main event and I had increased my distance by 4 feet in one year. By the age of 19 I had broken the 50 foot-mark barrier and continued to progress at a steady rate until my first major injury. Never experiencing an injury before, it was definitely a mental battle as I had to endure 6 months of rehab and strengthening until I was able to compete again where my first meet once again shockingly had me still over the 50 feet mark at the age of 19. After taking a few years break and refocusing on my goals, I made the decision to continue back in the track and field collegiate world after competing the summer before and jumping 52 feet 5 inches. Under the continued guidance of Aldrin Gray (who has been my jump/sprint coach since 2005), I competed in my second and last year of Collegiate track and field At Hampton University ( the real HU for any Howard Alumni).  In my Last years as a Collegiate athlete, I set the Hampton university indoor triple jump record, ran a personal best in the 60 (6.82 seconds) meter dash indoors, 200(21.37 seconds) meter dash outdoors and made NCAA regionals for triple jump and the 4x100 meter dash relay. Also, I was apart of the IC4A championship 4x100 meter dash and 4x 200 meter dash team.

 

     So, even though I had a very brief appearance in collegiate sports, I felt I had a very productive and important year for me as it convinced me that I wanted to continue my track and field career to the professional level. Now, my first year competing I did not jump but rather picked up a new event, the 400 meter hurdles.  This was due to the fact that my time running the 4x400 meter relay I ran a time of 45.2s split which caught the eye of my coaches that I may be suited to run the open 400 and the 400 hurdles.  I did not get the results I wanted, nor did I have the same passion as I did for jumps so the following year I went back to jumping and qualified for my first USA indoor championships in 2011. Coming back into jumps that year I opened my triple jump up with a 15.62 meter jump which qualified me, at the time, to enter the championship meet. My performance there was , once again, not as expected, but I did not give up, I continued to strengthen my injured hamstring and groin and focused on my next season where I would be contacted by Belize’s athletic association to represent them in the Senior central American championships in Nicaragua , June 2012.

 

      This gave me a goal, to heal my body up and be prepared to show the world what I was capable of despite the obstacles I encountered ( injures, funds to travel to meets, training facilities being available).  When I arrived at the meet I placed second the long jump and placed first in the triple jump with a mark of 15.57m, which was relieving to me to know that I could jump this far with my body still rattled with injuries. The following year, 2013, I competed in Costa Rica at the Central American games in the 200, long jump and triple jump.  This meet was my debut as a returning sprinter as it was my first 200 meter dash in a few years. I ran 21.62 and placed 5th , placed 4th in long jump and 3rd in triple jump. Although these performances were not as I expected, I prepared for the next competition in Nicaragua.  Now this next meet in Nicaragua proved to be one of my most impactful championships. During this meet, I placed 4th in the 200 meter dash, 4th in long jump, but in the triple jump I placed first and set a new Belizean and Central American Championship record of 15.94meters. This record still stands now after a year.

           In the 2014 Season I have competed in my three main events with the determinations of improving my personal best and setting new record for Belize.  By the end of the 2014 season, I had run 21.17 in the 200 , 7.45meters in long jump and 15.70meters in triple early in my season.  I left for Glasglow, Scotland July 20 for the 2014 Commonwealth games where I represented Belize in the long jump and triple jump. Even though i sustained a pretty intense injury during my travels,  I still kept my head high and managed to represent Belize to the best of the abilities on an Elite level. My goals in these two events are to break 8.5 meters in long jump and 18 meters in triple jump. I feel beyond confident that I can achieve these goals and for those who know me know that I will do my utmost to reach them.

 

            Well now you know about me and my life as a track and field athlete, though I may have started late in the world of athletics, I hope you continue to follow and support me throughout my career.