The fastest man in the Concho Valley? Wall's Jones has a case with state aspirations

For those paying attention to West Texas track meets, Wall's Briggs Jones often appears at the top of meet results and leaderboards in West Texas.

As district meets approach, Jones currently holds the top times and distances in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, long jump and triple jump in the Standard Times' Track Honor Roll , which compiles the best times, distances and heights from all high school track and field events across West Texas. And for more than a month, his top times and distances held firm against track athletes from Class 1A-6A across West Texas.

This begs the question, is Jones the fastest man in the Concho Valley?

"I mean, I don't know, it's cool to be mentioned as one of the top guys," Jones said. "I think it's an honor to be able to compete with some of the fastest guys in the Concho Valley."

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When asked, Jones remained understandably humble. However, Wall High School boys track coach Craig Slaughter had plenty of confidence to pour on his star athlete.

"I see him every day and I work with him every day," Slaughter said. "I'd put my money on him against anybody. He's a talented, competitive, hardworking kid and when you throw in a little toughness, it's a great mixture of what it takes to be an elite track athlete. And that dude is just unbelievable. Unreal."

Jones continued his remarkable season at the San Angelo Relays this past weekend setting a new meet record for the Division II 200 recording a 22.31-second run, shattering the previous record dating back to 2017. He was also the anchor leg on the Hawks' record-breaking 800-meter relay team, which beat the old 2013 record by over a second with a time of 1:28.43.

While Jones was always a talented athlete for the Wall's Class 3A track and football teams, his explosion and speed took another jump this year Slaughter said.

"The first day we practiced long jump I jokingly said, 'Your dad might need to get us a backhoe because you're fixing to be at the back end (of the sand pit),'" Slaughter said. "I mean, the first time he jumped, I was like 'My God,' he just looked different."

Slaughter's comments were not overstated as Jones took home the first-place medal in the Division II long jump at the San Angelo Relays recording a lap of 22-6 1/2.

And while pondering whether he is the fastest man in the Concho Valley is a fun thought experiment, Jones said his sights are set on riding his record-breaking streak to the state meet in Austin this year. And Looking at last year's state meet, it' i's easy to see why he is aiming there.

In 2023, Jefferson's Luke McMullen won the Class 3A 100 with a 10.51-second time and also took home first in the 200 recording a 21.23 dash. In contrast, Jones's best 100 of 10.5 seconds he recorded at the Nat Sawyer Relays would have won him the top spot over McMullen last year, and the 22.25 seconds 200 he posted at the ASU Spring Break Invitational would have been good for seventh.

While his running numbers are comparable to the best track athletes in Class 3A, Jones' personal best long jump of 23-9.50 he set at the ASU Spring Break Invitational would have crushed Omaha Pewitt's Cedric Johnson's 22-11.25 first-place jump at the state meet, and his 45-2 triple jump would put him just off the medal stand in fourth place.

"You know, a lot of times (the state meet) is a pipe dream," Slaughter said. "... But believe me, this year we are believing it. It's on the calendar and I talk about it every practice. We're looking at times and distances because there's a fine line between whether or not you get there, but we're absolutely in the hunt."

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This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: The fastest man in the Concho Valley? Wall's Jones has a case with state aspirations