University of Illinois Women's Cross Country

Jones guided Alyssa Schneider to her first All-American finish, the first Illini to do so since 2009. Jones also coached Schenider to a third-palce finish at Big Ten Championships, setting the second-fastest 6K time in Illini history. During the indoor track season, Jones again guided Nicole Choquette to a medal in the 800m, placing second.  In 2015, Jones tutored walk-on Nicole Choquette to her first Big Ten title, winning the indoor 600m.  During the 2014 indoor track season, Jones guided the distance medley relay team of Stephanie Morgan, Kymbriona Taylor, Chloe Schmidt and Alyssa Schneider to a  third place finish at Big Ten Championships with the third-fastest time in school history.  While at Akron, Jones was a two-time MAC Womens Cross Country Coach of the Year and coached two conference champion teams. He also assisted with 10 MAC Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championship teams, as his distance runners contributed to eight of the last nine conference titles. Jones has coached two All-Americans and 22 All-MAC cross country runners, as well as 25 individual MAC Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field champions. In his first stint at Illinois, Jones helped produce three Big Ten team titles, as well as consecutive fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships in 1995 and 1996. Jones began his career as a volunteer assistant coach at Cornell University, where he assisted with teams that finished fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1991 and 1992. Jones has also led his teams to academic success, as his womens cross country teams have received USTFCCCA All-Academic recognition every year since 1998. A native of Galveston, Texas, Jones graduated from Duke University in 1982, where he earned a bachelors degree in geology. He also earned a Ph.D in earth science from the University of California, San Diego in 1989.