Porter Gaud junior’s javelin skill jolts her to national spotlight

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Javelin throwing may be a lesser-known spoke of the track and field wheel, but one Johns Island native and Porter Gaud junior is looking to change that in historic fashion.

Hurling herself into the national spotlight was never her intent but that’s exactly what Brett Jones did when she threw her javelin spear 50.72 meters (166-5 ft.) at a track meet in Dorchester, South Carolina.

That throw lands the standout as a standalone, marking a new U.S. number one for the event.

“Javelins never really been anything that people really know about,” Jones said. “I don’t love the recognition very much. I mean it’s fine because I know it’s gonna happen if I want to be where I want to be.”

Where she is right now is holding a new Porter Gaud school record. Since the school is privately run, it competes in the SCISA conference and cannot set state records until the Track & Field State Championships, which Jones has already qualified for. Her longest throw is just shy of the state record.

That record and more, she believes, are within striking distance.

“I would like to compete at the collegiate level and maybe one day even represent the USA,” Brett says. “Every time I talk to a coach, they tell me they’re like you have the potential to represent the United States one day.”

Her coach, Aaron Jones, also happens to be her father. He competed for the University of Cincinnati in similar throwing events and believes she’s got what it takes.

“I always tell her to keep going, just keep up the hard work and you know, you can do this but it’s only gonna get harder the higher up you go,” he says. “I know this because I’m the coach, you know, I always want more out of her, but I’m also her dad. She might disagree… but think I do pretty good. Pretty good at separating what’s on the track with what’s at home.”

Not only did her dad compete on the collegiate level, but so did her mom.

“Yeah, my wife and I met in college on the track team and, yeah, and once Brett got old enough, she decided, yeah, she wanted to give it a try,” he says. “It’s been great. Started out with her just in our backyard, seven years old just throwing around a little plastic javelin. No dreams of her passion turning into anything like this, but here we are.”

While the rest of the country has come to know his daughter as number one, Aaron Jones says that’s a title she’s held in his heart her entire life.

“Yeah, I’m most proud of who she is as a person. Much more proud of that than anything she’ll ever accomplish on the track for sure,” he says. “But when I look at her dreams, we realize this is actually something that could be a real possibility.”

An impossible dream, she says, without her parent’s guidance, coaching and love.

“For sure, there’s been people that my parents have coached and they’re like, I can’t believe that this is the same kid that was out here while you all were coaching all those years ago, it’s definitely come full circle,” she says. “I’m thankful for it because if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

What she is doing has made them proud.

“After she had this big number one throw, we went to an event and while all the parents were saying, ‘She’s such a great athlete,’ but they were also telling us how good of a person she is and that was just so much more special to hear than any good throw,” Trista Jones says. “Anybody can throw. Being a good person’s a different story.”

Brett Jones is trying to add one more feather to her cap before the South Carolina Track & Field State Finals speed off in May by becoming the National Girls Performer Of The Week. You can click here to vote for her.

The poll closes at noon on Friday.