San Jacinto Christian Academy Senior Brandon Jones Named GOAT Scholar Athlete of the Week

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – This week FirstBank South West GOAT Scholar Athlete of the Week proves that nothing is out of reach, even for a pole vaulter. Meet Brandon Jones.

San Jacinto Christian Academy senior Brandon Jones soared 12-foot-6 in the pole vault. He started jumping about 2.5 years ago.

“Tricking your brain into thinking you’re not going to die every time you do that because everything we’re doing is totally against what’s natural to protect you from injury,” Jones said.

Jones ranked fifth at State last year in TAPPS.

“Gives you so much adrenaline once you get over the bar and feel weightless,” Jones said. “Getting better is so good.”

“You watch him run and you watch him crash and it’s just beautiful. We knew something special was going to happen for him as soon as he had enough jumps in his repertoire.

Just as Jones was gaining momentum, September 2021 shocked his strength.

“I had this crazy pain in my shoulder and it was pretty unbearable so we went to the hospital and found my left lung had collapsed.”

“You know the next time we found out we were in the hospital for 10 days with a test tube and he literally went from a healthy child to a pediatric intensive care unit‚”, said DeDe Jones, Brandon’s mother.

After recovering approximately five weeks later, Jones’ right lung also collapsed.

“I was pretty depressed that I couldn’t pole vault for a while or do anything because I had to take three months off after I recovered,” Jones said.

“He was recording. He was helping the coach. He was doing everything he could to support the team,” DeDe said. “He actually had something on his steering wheel that said Dream Big which he put on their right after the collapse, so with him there was never a question of whether he was coming back.”

Now Jones is heading back to TAPPS Regionals and looking to punch his ticket to State. He jumps about 10 feet and closes in on his old targets.

“We talked about just being strong in his faith and trusting what he was doing,” Malone said.

“If you give up on the things you love just because something gets in the way, you’re never really going anywhere with it,” Jones said. “Even if it’s difficult as much as you can just try to pass.”

Jones holds a 4.0 GPA and plans to study manufacturing engineering at Tarleton State University. At San Jacinto Christian Academy, Jones attends the National Honor Society and is a member of the Quail Creek Church Youth Group.

Congratulations to Brandon Jones for being named our FirstBank Southwest NewsChannel10 GOAT Scholar Athlete of the Week. To nominate a senior, go to https://www.newschannel10.com/sports/goat/.

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