A new standard: Jones etches his name in the record books

By Cassandra Ercoli, Sports Reporter

Records are meant to be broken – and senior Brody Jones is the latest Golden Griffin to rewrite the program’s record books this past weekend at the YSU Mid Major Invitational in Youngstown, Ohio. 

The Holland, N.Y. native broke the program’s 1000m record in a time of 2:27.53 en route to another first place. The record stood since 1988 and was held by Chris Mattingly with a time of 2:29.04. 

While Jones admits that he has not competed in the 1000m since his senior year of high school, he says that the record was still something he had his eye on and was something he knew he was capable of.

“Going into the weekend, I was trying to focus on it a little bit. To run that time would be kind of under control, and I don’t think it was anything out of my reach.”

While the performance marks the senior’s first individual record, Jones currently holds and shares the indoor 4x800m relay record with fellow senior teammate Braden Tent, which was set in 2023 during their freshman year in a time of 7:40.16.

Jones also set a new personal best in the 3000m run, lowering his time to 8:35.82 while claiming a top 5 finish. Jones’ previous personal best was set just three weeks ago on Jan. 16 after he lowered his time at the meet at Akron, clocking in a time of 8:42.68 for a sixth-place finish. A complete early indoor season resume includes another individual win, this time in the men’s one-mile run at the Griffs’ last outing at SPIRE. 

After being plagued with injuries his sophomore and junior years, his senior season has been all about meeting the expectations he set for himself, even when lacking confidence. 

“I wasn’t the most confident going into our early meets,” said Jones. “Getting used to being confident going into races is not something that I am used to. When you are at the  [Division] I level, you get used to being beat all the time. This year is the first year that I have won a race, and then I won two races and everything is just kind of snowballing.”

While still an individual sport, Jones attributes part of his success to his teammates and coaches around him. Even with the coaching changes this October, which saw the departure of Tyler Scheving and the hiring of Nick Wilson, Jones acknowledged he would not be where he is today without the team. 

“In cross country, we had a good top five that just pushed each other. Specifically [Nathanial Fisher] and Kyle [Urban] have been pretty much dragging me around for seasons,” said Jones. “Having them to kind of drag me along is really why I am fit and is important to where I am headed.”

With his focus now turning to staying controlled and focused as the season slowly winds down and with MAACs on the horizon, the senior still has another record in mind: the 800m run. 

“I have a shot at the 800m school record, or close to it. But more than anything, I am trying to get a good seed time for MAACs. Records are nice, but the end goal is always medals at MAACs and putting the team on the podium.”

The team will now take a much needed week off before Jones and the Griffs will be back in action when they travel once again to SPIRE for the SPIRE Collegiate Indoor Games in Geneva, Ohio on Feb. 14.

Photo courtesy of @GoGriffs