When Judi Jones first visited Nebraska, she immediately visualized herself reaching her full potential, in both athletics and academics.
She visited with advisers who impressed her with the academic program. Nebraska’s athletic facilities, plus the academic center and support for its student athletes, also made a strong impression.
“It’s well beyond anything I’ve ever seen,” said Jones, who came to Lincoln from Lenexa, Kansas. “I just knew Nebraska was going to support their athletes so much, where it was like impossible to not become successful.
“I felt like, ‘Wow, if I’m going to choose to go to Nebraska, it’s going to be my own fault if I don’t become successful here,’ because they really give you every single opportunity.”
Jones, a marketing major, is among 66 Nebraska student-athletes who will earn degrees Saturday in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s virtual commencement ceremonies. However, she’s not certain she is saying goodbye to Lincoln just yet.
Because the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic cancelled the spring sports season, Jones is considering returning to finish her eligibility in outdoor track and field while also beginning work on her MBA. That’s just among her many options.
“I feel like I come up with a new plan every single day,” Jones said, laughing.
She credits the College of Business for preparing her to the point where she recently received three job offers, and for making her feel confident to pursue her MBA, if she so chooses. In athletics, a successful career in cross country and track has her considering a professional career in running, too. She’s already been in contact with several coaches of running clubs.
“It’s a great opportunity. I’d be able to train for the Olympic trials,” Jones said. “I’m going to keep looking at these different clubs. Once things get back to normal, I’m going to visit them and see what they’re like, and seeing if running professionally is something I would want to do. Not have my business career take a back seat, but try and do something along with that.”
Jones came to Nebraska as a walk-on and fulfilled her goal of eventually earning a scholarship. In cross country, she was one of the top three Huskers to cross the finish line at every meet the past two seasons and was named Nebraska’s Most Improved Runner in 2018.
In track and field, Jones competed at three indoor and three outdoor Big Ten Championships, most recently finishing eighth in the 3,000 meters (9:35.31) and 14th in the 5,000 meters (16:53.31) at the 2020 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Her best showing at the Big Ten Championships was a fifth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2019, and she went on to finish 20th at the NCAA Midwest Regional with a time of 10:10.33 – the No. 4 time in school history. It was her only time qualifying for the NCAA Midwest Regional, and she finished just eight spots shy (12.27 seconds short) of qualifying for the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Jones also achieved several academic accomplishments in her career, including USTFCCCA All-Academic, Academic All-Big Ten, Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (eight times) and Tom Osborne Citizenship Team honors.
Her best memories at Nebraska involve her teammates.
“Whenever my teammates have a huge PR or just bust out an awesome race, just watching those races go down, those are some great memories,” Jones said.
“Watching my teammate, Elsa Forsberg, make it to the final last year in the 1,500 was amazing. She’s someone I work with every day. Watching her get better and reaching that high level, it’s so rewarding to watch her do that.”
Balancing academics and athletics and continuing to excel in both has never been a problem for Jones, who says she prefers to have a workload of multiple tasks at once.
“It’s crazy, but I think the craziness is fun and makes it a lot more rewarding, being able to juggle things and being able to be successful with all of it,” Jones said. “It’s been so much fun. That’s why I would like to do a career along with running, because I think I would get bored just running. It’s really enjoyable being able to balance different things.”
Jones admits it’s been easier for collegiate runners to deal with the current pandemic compared to most student-athletes because they don’t need facilities to keep running. She still runs outdoors and keeps in contact with her teammates through an app called Strava, a social media outlet for runners.
“It helps you motivate each other and encourage each other to go the extra mile and keep up the good work,” Jones said. “It’s not the same as having your teammates here in person. I think it’s harder to keep up the intensity without them.”
Jones will watch Saturday’s commencement with her parents, who have recently moved to Maryland, and will look forward to receiving her diploma in the mail.
“That will definitely make it seem more real,” Jones said, “that I graduated.”
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.
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