Jones shines on big stage

They’re going to love Bona Jones on Tobacco Road, maybe even more than first imagined.

The Estero High graduate, who signed with North Carolina State in the spring, took her game to the big stage this week, blowing away the field Thursday night to win her first national championship.

Jones finished the 5K run of the Nike Outdoor Nationals in 16 minutes, 57.21 seconds, one-half lap ahead of Virginia runner Stefanie Slekis (17:44.17), who might as well have been trying to catch Michael Jordan on a fastbreak.

Almost as familiar as the result, though, was the destination. The Nike meet is being held on the North Carolina A&T campus in Greensboro, roughly 80 miles from where Jones will attend college.

She can’t wait.

“I’ guess it’s just a good fit for me,” Jones said of the Tar Heel State, best known, perhaps, for its ACC basketball prowess.

To be sure, there is a track star on the way. Jones won two state championships in two years at Estero, highlighted by her runaway victory in the two-mile at last month’s state meet.

But Thursday’s triumph was the best yet. She will receive a championship ring for the win, plus a free pair of Nike shoes for placing in the top three.

Not a bad way for Jones to polish off her pre-college career. She ran her final race before heading to N.C. State on Friday night, finishing ninth in the two-mile with a personal-best time of 10:34.

“I sure know I’m going to be depressed,” said Estero track coach Jeff Sommer, who accompanied the runner in Greensboro. “I’ve got to go back to reality next week.”

But he will continue to follow Jones, who has already decorated her silver Volkswagen Beetle with Wolfpack stickers. Big things are expected of the distance queen, especially after her performance in Raleigh earlier this year.

Against a field of collegiate runners in March, Jones left her footprints on the N.C. State track with a record time in the 5K. She finished fourth in 16:42.63 at the Raleigh Relays, the best time ever by a Florida runner in the event.

It’s remarkable considering her experience in the 5K, which is minimal. She had run the 3.1-mile track race just twice prior to Thursday, when she pulled ahead of the field before the end of the first lap.

Then she was gone.

“The longer the distance,” Sommer said, “the tougher she gets.”