Apr. 1—He's been labeled 'Odessa's best kept secret'.
Jay'brion Jones doesn't mind that.
After all, it takes a little bit of pressure off his back as the Odessa High senior track runner gets ready for the championship part of this season.
Jones will be competing in the District 2-6A championships, which begin Wednesday and finish Thursday in Midland.
Jones, who competes in the 4×200 meters, the 100 and 200 meters will be competing for a spot at the area track meet.
"Coming into district, I feel like I can do better with my performance," Jones said. "Coming into district, I have a lot of confidence and power than I did in nondistrict."
He's also hopeful of a chance to qualify for the UIL state championships this year in Austin.
His personal record in the 100 is currently 10.21 seconds and 21.07 seconds in the 200.
"It's a big motivation and a big push for some of the things that I have and the goals that I have in the future," Jones said. "It's something that I want to capitalize on."
He came up short in qualifying for state last year, making it to regionals.
Last year, Jones finished fourth in the 100 meter finals at regionals in Arlington, finishing with a time of 10.55 while finishing fourth in 21.51 in the 200 meters.
His relay team last year placed 13th in prelims in a time of 1:29.07 as well.
He's hoping not to have the same thing happen this time as he looks to take care of unfinished business.
But first, he knows he has to focus on district and not look too far ahead.
"It's hard but you have to focus on what's in front of you and play the cards that you're dealt," Jones said about focusing on the district meet. "You have to go from there."
So far, he feels good about his chances.
"I feel a lot stronger than I did last year," Jones said.
He talked about what these last few weeks have been like at practice.
"These last couple of weeks have been good," Jones said. "The workouts are still strong but we're starting to go a little light on them. We're still getting stronger and not feeling any weaknesses."
His offseason was spent working in the weight room a lot more than usual.
"We worked a lot on building on the progress we had from last year and working to carry it over to this year," Jones said.
Going into this track season, his goals were pretty simple.
"Just run better and get stronger overall for college," Jones said.
As for college, he's received an offer from Tarleton State as he hopes to major in business management with a minor in photography.
"I'm interested in taking pictures and I like editing," Jones said. "It's very interesting ... In business, I want to start my own trucking business."
