Excelling at track and field, Olivia Jones has been devoted to running cross country since middle school.

This fall, Jones committed to continuing her athletic career at the University of Florida. The future Gator is “extremely excited and ready to start training at the collegiate level”

Jones is a two-time, back-to-back cross country division champion. She runs 5ks for cross country with a personal best of 19:22.

Jones runs the 2 mile, 1000 meters, and mile with personal bests of 10:57, 2:58, and 5:07 respectively.

“I wish I had the opportunity this past fall to race at the divisional meet one last time,” Jones said.

Each year, Jones leads the cross country team to the state meet with first-place finishes in the 5k divisional race in Wrentham, MA.

“It was upsetting to hear our cross country season wouldn’t look the same as usual, but I was glad that I was able to race a few times even if they were modified,” Jones said.

Jones participated in the Covid-safe season this fall, consisting only of a few meets that were not full 5Ks.

This spring is Jones’s last opportunity to race as a high school athlete with her coach, Jean Cann, who has been with her since middle school. 

Jones is excited that the outdoor track was not canceled and that she could have the opportunity to qualify for the state meet one last time. 

“The MSTCA seems to be pushing for meets to happen, so I’m pretty hopeful for it,” Jones said.

Right now, Jones is training on her own with a plan from Coach Cann. She follows it weekly, slowly increases her mileage, and building on the workouts given. She runs by herself, but will occasionally meet up with teammates for the easy runs. She needs to be on her own for the workouts, so she can do them at her own pace. 

Graduate, Schuyler Gooley, used to match her pace, but she has moved on to run at California Polytechnical University. 

“I’m excited to be able to have some people to run with next year. It makes the workouts a little less brutal when you have people running with you.”