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Jon Jones wins UB's first D1 National Championship to cap off stellar career

By Matt Gritzmacher Updated
UB Athletics

Nothing closes out a year - or for Jon Jones, a career - like a national championship. Jones, who had already well established himself as one of UB's best-ever in any field, athletics or otherwise, for the final time set a school record by throwing 20.78m in his second attempt and won his first national title thanks to a tiebreaker over Penn State's Darrell Hill.

Hill had managed 20.78 on his third attempt, but neither he (for the tiebreaker) nor any other competitor (for pride) was able to top even Jones' 20.31-meter first throw. In the final rotation, Jones extended his tiebreaker advantage with a toss of 20.57m, and ended the competition with three of the best four throws on the night, leaving no doubt as to his worthiness of the title.

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Jones is not technically the end of the road for UB Athletics in 2014-15, since Mike Morgan and the Decathlon wrap up tomorrow, but we can cover that when it comes and will have a series looking at the big picture next week. Still, it seems fitting to end the most successful year in school history with the superlative-est superlative of them all.

Jones' performance doesn't come entirely out of the blue, of course. With the win the now-graduated senior earns All-America status for the sixth time as a Bull - three each in Indoor and Outdoor competition - and builds on a third-place finish at this year's Indoor National Championships in Fayetteville, AR. In addition to All America teams, Jones had already swept both the Indoor and Outdoor 2015 Northeast Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year Awards from the USTFCCCA.

There's not a whole else lot to say; as someone once said in our comments, Jones throws a little ball really far, and he does it as well as anyone in the country. Included in the field were Indoor champion Stipe Zunic (Florida), longtime national leader Ryan Crouser (Texas), and one of the few men to top Jones this year in Darrell Hill (Penn State). All four finished in the top five in both the Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

Oh yea, and the wristwatch remained on. I am determined to enter Jon Jones' Wristwatch into UB lore.

Go Bulls!

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