THE ACCOLADES just keep raining down on Akela Jones.
Jones, now a senior at Kansas State University, was one of five named as the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Athletes of the Year.
Jones was named Co-National Women’s Field Athlete of the Year along with Georgia’s Kendell Williams. They, along with Edward Cheserek (Oregon), Ryan Crouser (Texas) and Molly Seidel (Notre Dame) were honoured by the US Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association for their outstanding efforts throughout the indoor season.
Jones made her intentions known early in the season when she tallied at the time what was the second highest total in pentathlon history with 4643 points.
At the Big 12 Conference championships Jones won titles in the high jump and long jump on her way to an unfathomable 31.5 points to be the meet’s high-points scorer. The former Springer Memorial athlete tied a meet record in the high jump (1.93m) and set one in the long jump (6.75m).
After a fall in the first event of the pentathlon at the NCAAs, Jones put together arguably the best three-event result in history. She scored 3083 combined points in the high jump, shot put and long jump behind a collegiate-record tying clearance of 1.98m in the high jump.
The very next day Jones won the open high jump with a best of 1.87 metres.
On Wednesday, Jones was inducted into the National Primary Schools’ Athletics Championships Hall of Fame. (PG/PR)
