ABILENE - Abilene Christian senior
Nick Jones Tuesday was announced by the Lone Star Conference as its 2012 Male Athlete of the Year. He is the fifth Wildcat since 2006 to receive this honor, joining golfer Cyril Bouniol (2010), gridiron stars Bernard Scott (2009) and Danieal Manning (2006), and four-time national cross country champion Nicodemus Naimadu (2007).
Jones garnered 24 points after receiving votes on all 10 ballots cast by the league's sports information directors. Midwestern State football standout Amini Silatolu and Texas A&M-Kingsville multi-sport star Jonathan Woodson finished second and third, respectively, with 13 and 10 points.
A native of Amarillo, Jones recently completed a distinguished collegiate career that included 10 All-America citations, plus five national and seven conference championships in the discus and shot put. He also was part of three national championship teams.
At this spring's national outdoor meet, Jones became the first male athlete in NCAA history to win four national titles in the discus regardless of division. He won the title as a freshman in 2008 and again as a sophomore in 2009 before redshirting in 2010. He returned in 2011 and won his third title in record-setting fashion as his winning mark of 199 feet, 4 inches set a new meet record.
Jones went on to eclipse his personal best in the discus at the 2012 UTEP Invitational where he registered a distance of 203-3. His throw is the third-best ever recorded in the history of NCAA DII, and is second among all collegians (regardless of division) in 2012. Nebraska sophomore Chad Wright ranks ahead of Jones with a distance of 206-0.
Jones career results have netted him a multitude of accolades, including consecutive USTFCCCA NCAA DII National and South Central Regional Field Athlete of the Year awards in 2011 and 2012. He also received the same honor twice at the conference level on top of six field athlete of the week laurels, three of which were earned this year.
Jones earned the title of Most Outstanding Male Field Athlete at the 2012 Lone Star Conference Championships as he helped the Wildcats edge Kingsville by six points to win their 19th straight league crown. Jones scored 29 points, which included wins in the shot put and discus, plus a bronze-medal showing in the hammer, and a sixth-place finish in the javelin.
Jones is a provisional qualifier in both the discus and shot put for the U.S. Olympic Trials held in late June. The top three finishers in each event will represent the U.S. at the 2012 London Games.
Should he be accepted into both events, Jones would first compete in the shot put between June 23 and 24, and then in the discus on June 25 and 28.
Angelo State senior softball player Elsamartina Apo was chosen as the Lone Star Conference's Female Athlete of the Year, earning 16 points. ACU tennis player Julia Mongin and Tarleton State's volleyball and track and field athlete Nikki McNorton tied for second with 12 points.
Mongin earned her second straight All-America citation after leading the fourth-ranked Abilene Christian women's tennis team into the semifinals of the 2012 NCAA Championships. Mongin won 16 of her 17 singles matches at the top line and was ranked second by the ITA at the end of the regular season.
