After 2 Indoor Titles, Buffs' Jones Turns Attention To 1,500 For Outdoor Season
April 06, 2017 | Track and Field, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Dani Jones remembers asking herself a simple question as the NCAA Indoor Championships distance medley relay event unfolded in front of her last month in College Station, Texas.
"I was the last leg, and watching our team run, we were still in it every lap around the track," Jones said. "Every time they came by us, we were still in the race. When (teammate) Sage (Hurta) was about to get the baton, I thought, 'Why not us? We have a great opportunity and two good last legs could make it happen.'"
To be honest, it was a question not many observers would have thought to ask. The favorite in the race was Oregon, a team that set the DMR collegiate record in the event in January. Also among the favorites was Stanford, another Pac-12 rival of Colorado.
But the Buffs?
"There weren't people talking about us, especially in the DMR," Jones now says with a smile. "Everyone was talking about the team that broke the collegiate record. We kind of went into the DMR thinking top five, hopefully."
But by the time Jones took the baton from Hurta for her 1,600-meter leg, the CU sophomore had bigger plans than top five. Despite a sizable gap between her and the leaders, Jones believed she had a chance to make up the gap in her eight laps — and that's exactly what she did.
One by one, Jones picked off the runners in front of her. By the last lap, only runners from Oregon and Stanford remained. In the home stretch, she passed Oregon's Katie Rainsberger, then nudged past Stanford's Elise Cranny just before the finish line to give Colorado a national championship.
The victory was such an upset that it even caught CU coach Mark Wetmore by surprise.
"We honestly hoped to bring them here, and maybe finish in the top eight and earn a point or two and get some some All-American honors for some young folks," Wetmore said after the race. "But every woman ran what we were hoping for or a little better. The first three kept Dani close enough to the lead of the race that she could do what she does best, which is run smart and patient. … And then she gunned them down one by one."
Jones, though, wasn't finished. One night later she ran in the 3,000, a race in which she figured to do well.
"As soon as we finished the DMR, I was getting ready for the next day," Jones said. "I was eating a whole pizza, drinking a lot of water and trying to relax. I remember thinking that tonight was so fun — but if you come back and blow it tomorrow, it's not going to mean as much. I just came in with the confidence that I had the night before. I just saw myself doing the same thing in racing, having the same kind of race."
That is exactly how it unfolded. Jones sat back in the pack patiently, waited for an opportunity — and then chased down the leaders in the final stretch. In the final 200 meters, she dug deep for a finishing kick and moved past Missouri's Karissa Schweizer to claim her second national title in as many days, clocking a 9 minute, 9.20 second finish.
She thus became the first Buff to win a 3,000 indoor title since Jenny (Barringer) Simpson claimed the championship in 2009 — and the first Buff in CU history (men or women) to win two indoor national titles in the same year.
"I think I was driving the coaches nuts in the race because I was far back and in bad position," Jones said. "As the race unfolded I tried to move up and be in position to strike. I was kind of trapped in the middle of a pack and someone tripped and flew out wide and it opened this really wide space. I took advantage of it and ran in between that space and got into the third place position. At that point, I was thinking, 'Just stay here and you'll be fine.' And that's pretty much what happened."
This spring, Jones is concentrating on the 1,500, a race she still considers her favorite. She already owns a personal best of 4:13.44 in the event, a time she clocked at last year's NCAA Championships. That is already the sixth-best time in CU history — and the best ever by a Buff freshman. When you consider that list includes such former CU stalwarts as Simpson Emma Coburn, Shayne Wille and Kara (Grgas-Wheeler) Goucher, having the fastest freshman time in CU history becomes even more impressive.
"It's fun to know that girls that have been in the exact same shoes are doing such great things with their careers and are all wonderful people," Jones said of the tradition of CU's track team. "It definitely makes you want to shoot higher. Your goals are higher because of the people who ran here and it makes you work that much harder."
Jones likely won't make her spring competitive debut until the April 21-22 Cardinal Invitational at Stanford. CU coaches want to limit her races in the spring because the "championship season" — the Pac-12 championships, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships — could see her run six highly competitive 1,500s in the span of a month.
"One of the hardest parts of being a 1,500 runner is that people tend to burn out by the end, especially if you've run a lot before the championship season," Jones said. "The idea is to wait a little and be a little fresher when it comes."
A middle-distance standout at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Jones has quickly adapted to longer distances at CU. Last fall, she was third in the Pac-12 cross country championships, then finished 22nd at the NCAA Championships, helping the Buffs to a second place team finish and earning All-American honors in the process.
But she admits she still likes the 1,500 on the track the best.
"It's fast and intense," she said. "You don't even have enough time to think — that's what makes it fun."
She also has the benefit of learning from CU's past greats, including Simpson, who is still the only U.S. collegiate woman to ever run a 1,500 under four minutes — a 3:59.9 at the 2009 NCAA Championships.
"Mark and Heather (Burroughs, assistant coach) and I have talked about Jenny's strategy," Jones said. "The way she runs races is first lap, don't fall. Second lap, stay relaxed and get comfortable. Third lap, start to move up and get into the position you want to be with a lap to go. Then go on your last lap."
It's a strategy that has obviously served Simpson well, as it helped her not only NCAA championships, but also a 1,500 bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
But Jones isn't yet ready to set her sights on Simpson's collegiate mark. For the moment, she's simply eyeing a qualifying time for the USA Championships. That standard of 4:09.5 is something she thinks might be within her reach this year.
"Mark always says you need to be humble and work hard, but you also have to have high goals and standards for yourself if you want to be good," Jones said. "I'm trying to make sure I do both of those things."
CU will host the annual CU Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Potts Field. The men's and women's javelin, hammer throw and triple jump will be contested on Friday, starting at 3 p.m. Saturday's events will start at 11 a.m. with the shot put, discus, pole vault, long jump, high jump and 3,000-meter steeplechase. The final event schedule for the track is the women's 4x400 meter relay at 3:10 p.m. The forecast for Friday is mostly sunny with a high of 74 degrees. Saturday's outlook is partly sunny with a high of 72.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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