Former New Hanover athlete runs into NCAA record book

Jermaine Jones #4
(Courtesy SAU Athletics)

WILMINGTON, North Carolina  --  Jermaine Jones was not always a runner. The 2009 New Hanover High School graduate played football first. He said it took a bit of encouragement from friends and family to finally start on the track.

“I really wasn't a sprinter,” he said. “But they were just like, ‘Try it out and see how it works, and they kept pushing me and pushing me and pushing me until I did it. Then I started getting a little faster. Everybody said don't give up even if I lose. That's just the mentality that I came in with.”

 

Now the Wilmington native is winning a lot.

 

Jones, who plays football and runs track for St. Augustine's University, ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x100-meter relay team that recently set the NCAA Division II national record with a time of 38.91 seconds.

 

The team first set the record in the preliminaries of the national championship meet in Colorado. Then, in the final on May 25, Jones and his teammates became the first relay in DII history to run under 39 seconds.

 

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