THE MOST AMAZING aspect of the mind-blowing hurdles times Andrew Jones is throwing down for Klein Collins High (Spring, Texas) is his barrier-crashing performances don’t look like breakthroughs as much as a natural progression.
When he ran a windy 12.97 in the 110 prelims at the Texas Relays (No. 1 all-conditions all-time and the first-ever sub 13.00) and followed that up with a wind-legal 13.15 (No. 2 all-time) and a 34.92 in the 300s (No. 2 all-time), it shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise.
He looked ready for more in his senior season, and indeed got that at his area meet (Tomball, April 17) with a High School Record 34.72 in the 300s. The time took down the 34.83 standard set by Vance Nilsson (Gilbert, Arizona and now a Florida soph) in 2024.
Through all that success, Jones, though, still holds on to his sense of wonder. “It was crazy,” he says, specifically about his fresh 300H HSR. “When I heard the time I was super, super excited. I’m still thinking about it, it’s still crazy to me.”
It’s part of a wild spring where he’s met the highest goals he set for himself.
“I mean, I could say it’s my plan, but now I’m still really amazed,” Jones says. “These were always like the ‘reach’ goals, ‘Hopefully I can do this,’ and now I’m doing it. It’s pretty crazy.”
When asked if he expected these kinds of times from Jones, Klein Collins coach John Patterson will tell you he’s never really surprised by his superstar.
“Maybe not to this magnitude or this level, but if you have ever met Andrew or been around him, he is intensely focused,” Patterson says. “Andrew is genuinely obsessed with the sport of track & field in a very positive way.
“He is probably the most driven athlete I have ever been around in any sport. That’s always been true, and from the time he got to high school in 9th grade that relentless work ethic could be focused on strength and speed aspects of his races rather than the mechanics of going over the hurdles.”
At that, Jones has always been a natural.
“He came into high school as a right lead leg, then we switched him his sophomore year to left lead, just to help him with the 300 hurdles, running through the curve,” Patterson says. “What makes him so special you cannot tell which leg he prefers. He does not have a preferred leg. His hurdling ability as a younger athlete was phenomenal, so, from Day 1 the conversations we had [were about] needing to develop him in terms of a sprinter. As he’s gotten older, he’s gotten stronger.
“What you’re seeing right now is 110 times are dropping dramatically because he’s so much stronger now as a senior than he was as a junior. His junior times dropped dramatically because he was stronger than he was as a sophomore.
“So what you’re seeing is the elite hurdling ability paired with strength and endurance.”
In fact, one reason Jones has opted to head to Texas A&M next fall is because of coach Pat Henry’s program’s prowess in developing 400 runners.
“He wasn’t necessarily looking for the best hurdle development program,” Patterson says. “He’s looking for the coaching staff that’s going to help him become a 44–45-second quartermiler. That’s going to get him to the 400-meter hurdle times that are his goals.”
As for those goals this summer, “I’m looking at the World U20s,” Jones said. “I’m hoping to win. I want to go 12.8 in the 110s, then a 48-high in the 400s.”
Before that he has state titles to defend for a Collins team that should be in contention for a state team championship, which is what is most important to Jones.
Beyond that comes the question of where eventually he will find the most success, the highs or the intermediates.
He’s not picking sides yet.
“Right now I’m thinking both, but it’s one of those things that we’ll see,” Jones says. “You have to see what happens in college because the hurdle height goes up for the 110s, so we’ll see how I can adapt to stuff like that.”
His coach doesn’t think it will be a problem. “What I’ve learned about Andrew is you cannot doubt his ability,” Patterson says. “You can’t. He’s never run the 42s, but I promise it will not take him long to adjust.”
That will give him new goals to chase, and Jones has proven adept at running down his dreams.
