ECU's record-breaking high jumper Avion Jones takes flight in a 2015 meet. (Photo: The East Carolinian)

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By Al Myatt
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Avion Jones didn't envision being among the top college high jumpers in the nation when he was a freshman at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach.

Back then, his sport was basketball.

As a senior at First Colonial during the 2011-12 season, Jones averaged 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per game for a 15-11 team. He scored 29 points twice in wins over Princess Anne and Kempsville.

His jumping ability as a freshman prompted the school's track and field coach to encourage him to come out for his team.

Jones, who cleared 2.25 meters (7 feet, 4 1/2 inches) for a new ECU indoor record on Saturday in Chapel Hill, wasn't an immediate success by any stretch.

"I was scared because I'm actually scared of heights, which is kind of funny," Jones said. "It was like a big mental thing. It took me years to be able to be comfortable enough to let myself jump over the bar, especially backwards, not knowing what's back there. It was just a huge mental thing for me. Once I got rid of the mental, I guess it finally started clicking. I let myself actually become good at it."

Jones didn't compete initially.

"My freshman year, (Coach Jaton Hines) actually wouldn't let me high jump," Jones said. "I guess I scared him because if you don't really know what you're doing you could probably like hit your head on the bar and stuff like that. He didn't trust me to high jump. My sophomore year I gave it another try.

"My freshman year the highest I might have jumped was like 5-6. My sophomore year, the highest was like 5-8. It's funny. When I go back and look at it online, it's just hilarious.

"My junior year, I don't know, out of nowhere I jumped 6-6. Then it started to click a little bit. My senior year I started off a little rusty but I ended up making my way to 6-10 and won the states. I never expected that. I had all my money into basketball. I was set on that but I ended up committing to Virginia Military Institute before my senior year track season started. ... I didn't think that I was going to get any better so I had no idea what would have happened. I committed there early and that's what happened."

At some point, Jones' athleticism and confidence came together.

" ... It might have been like halfway during the season my junior year," he said. "I definitely became more comfortable with it. I wasn't scared. Being comfortable for me is definitely the biggest thing. Once I become comfortable with it, I can tell myself that this is not high even though it is high. I'll be like, 'It's not high. You can do it.' I'll self-talk myself into making it over the bar."

The bar hasn't been the only thing Jones has gotten over.

His situation at VMI was not ideal in terms of maximizing his skill. He has emerged as a potential NCAA champion in an event for which ECU has no indoor facility.

Allen Bordley, a triple jumper at ECU who was a high school teammate at First Colonial, served as a liaison when Jones transferred to ECU.

"(Bordley) sold the place, sold us as coaches, sold the university, sold Greenville, sold Pitt County," said Pirates track coach Curt Kraft. "There was a guy here that was living it, breathing it. Having a teammate here that we had recruited out of high school helped because they believe in each other. Kids listen to kids. That was part of it."

The other part was that Bordley talked up Jones to Kraft and the track coaches.

"I used to battle with him all day in practice (in high school)," Jones said of Bordley. "I wouldn't leave until I beat him at least once in some type of jump. We were always competing. He actually did kind of the same thing. He had committed to Old Dominion University for football before he had won states in the triple jump. He ended up going there and then he realized football wasn't for him.

"He transferred to ECU to continue jumping. After he told me that he had transferred, I got him to talk to the coach for me because the coaches at VMI, they were kind of angry that I was leaving. They wouldn't give me permission to speak with other coaches. They tried to make it real difficult for me to leave so my former teammate was like the bridge between me and the coaches. He definitely helped me get into ECU."

Jones is 6 feet, 3 inches and weighs 185 pounds. His vertical jump is 38 inches.

The atmosphere at ECU has helped Jones develop into a three-time first-team All American.

"When I was at the military school, that lifestyle was just crazy," Jones said. "I had to do all the military stuff on top of school and then on top of track. Your body was just beat down and worn out 24/7. It was kind of hard to get better at that.

"But here, Coach (Joe) Blaney, the jumps coach, he trusts me. If whatever I feel is better for me, he'll trust me like to adjust my mark or try something new, whatever is more comfortable for me. He's not like a coach, who's like, 'No, do this. This will be better for you.' Everybody is different. The coaches who are like that, it doesn't really ever work out too well for the athlete. ... He'll ask me what do I want to do at practice and he knows at this point in time I know my body and I know what I feel like would help me get better because I've been doing it a while. He trusts me in that aspect. I couldn't have asked for any better coach."

Kraft sees potential for Jones to go higher.

"He's just an absolute fiery, fierce competitor," Kraft said. "That's one of the things that makes him so good. He doesn't accept no for an answer. As that bar continues to go up, he gets better and better. He's got a built-in mechanism to compete and compete hard. He doesn't like to lose. ...

"What have you got in this guy looking forward? The sky's the limit. He opens up with ... a tremendous jump. What do you do for an encore? What do you do to improve on that? He's started out so high here the first meet of the season. If he just stays consistent at that, there's a chance this kid could go 7-6, 7-7. There's no telling.

"What does that have to do with anything? We'll he's got a chance to be a national champion. I'm not trying to jinx him. I'm not trying to put pressure on the young man because it is what it is and he performs well under pressure. He's one of the top two returners in Division I track and field. There's a kid from Texas Tech (Bradley Adkins) and him. Now we don't know what else people recruited out there but if things go according to plan he could be a national champion twice, maybe indoor and outdoor."

Jones also could represent the U.S. in the coming months.

"Let's even blow the picture up bigger," Kraft said. "He's got a high enough jump that he's going to go to the Olympic trials this summer. How that works is they take the top three to the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. I think this young man has got his eye on that. I think he's got his eye on 2016 but before we start putting that cart before those horses so to speak, we need to take care of business here first.

"He needs to stay focused, take one day at a time and he's a humble young man. Very humble. He lets his actions do his speaking. He is one of those ones that's a special athlete. You get these that come around every once in awhile. LaShawn Merritt (former ECU track athlete and Olympic gold medalist). We don't get these people that come to this university every day, every year, so once you get these people, you have to kind of enjoy it. Kind of go along for the ride if you will. Kind of ride that wave and that's what we've done."

There are also potential rewards for Jones in pro track.

"The faster you run, the higher you jump, the further you throw, that all has to do with money," Kraft said.

His effort last weekend could be a springboard. Kraft said there were some factors contributing to the highest jump thus far in the college indoor season.

"One of them could be rest," Kraft said. "They were off on a long Christmas break obviously. Believe it or not, rest sometimes is good. Sometimes people think too much rest and you ain't gonna be any good.

"Don't get me wrong. There's a fine line between too much rest and not practicing. One of the things, he was coming off Christmas break. He was healthy. He was excited. They hadn't been practicing for awhile. I think he had fresh legs. Along with the fact that he's a competitor. Number three, he's got high goals. He's on a mission. You put all those things together, those are the ingredients of why he did good right away."

Jones got back to his athletic roots between semesters.

"I played basketball every day," he said. "That was actually my training, all the jumping and stuff. I came back to school almost a week early so I had almost two weeks to get back in the weight room and get that all squared away. That probably had a big impact on my jump. I went up to First Colonial a few times. They had a few open gyms but we have about eight rec centers in Virginia Beach. I've pretty much been going to all the rec centers and just playing pick-up games, staying in shape and keeping my legs right."

Jones isn't obsessing despite his bright future.

"I haven't like set any main specific goals," he said. "I just want to be able to do what I know I can do. If I somehow win NCAAs, that would definitely be like a major goal but it isn't like a set-in-stone goal. It's not something that has to happen. If it happens, I'm truly grateful."

Jones trains even when he can't practice jumping. He saves his best, practice and performance, for meets.

"At practice, I really don't put the bar too high," Jones said. "I actually don't get to practice because we don't have an indoor facility, so with the weather like this I'll go weeks and a month without practicing. My only kind of practice is at the meets where I'm actually jumping during competition. Last year around this time I went a month without practicing because of the weather ... It's just crazy. When I get to the meets I have to make sure I'm like on top of everything and everything is right. So many people have advantages over me because they have indoor facilities and they actually get to practice their technique while I can't."

A few warm days, like earlier this month, changes the indoor season routine for Jones.

"If it's warm I get to go out and work on my approach and fix things with that," he said. "I'll take a few jumps over the bar."

Jones gets his lifting in.

"The weight room Is a big part of what I do," he said. "I make sure in there. I'm squatting and with the power clean, making sure I'm moving the weight fast and staying explosive."

A meet this weekend at Virginia Tech was called off due to the forecast for snow.

"We just pray that the weather cooperates," Kraft said. " ... It's not cooperating now."

His career plans beyond the high jump have taken shape from his own experience as a youth.

"I just changed my major to physical education (from sports management)," Jones said. "I know growing up a big impact on me, going to school, was the P.E. teachers. That's what I remember the most. ... I want to be able to have that type of impact on kids as they're growing. In elementary school, you're typically with that teacher for like one year but with physical education teachers you get to see the kids grow because you're with them pretty much from like first grade to fifth grade, six through eight or whatever. You're with that kid for multiple years."

Jones has been doing well in his studies, too.

"Last semester I made a 3.6 (grade point average)," he said. "I had like four As and two Bs."

His season-opening jump would rate an A as well. It earned Jones recognition as American Athletic Conference Male Field Athlete of the Week. It was the fifth time he has received that honor.

Things are looking up for the guy whose name, Avion, means airplane in Spanish.

"My Mom (Alicia) gave it to me," Jones said. "I haven't like really asked her how she got it exactly. Lately, a lot of people have been finding it ironic with the translation of what it means. ... being that I'm a high jumper and I spend half my life in the air."