Senior distance runner Cody Jones thought he was headed for a career in sports medicine or athletic training when he started at Portland State.
 
But a rough freshman year changed his career ambitions and led him to a better understanding of what he needed to do to improve his times and continue to enjoy running.
 
Besides being homesick, the Greeley, Colo., native had health issues, was battling injuries and was finding college-level chemistry more of a challenge than he'd bargained for that first year.
 
"My freshman year was one of the toughest of my college experience. I was iron-deficient, not running well, missing home and struggling to do well in higher-level science classes," Jones recalled.
 
He decided maybe he wasn't as passionate about science as he'd thought, and his freshman inquiry instructor encouraged him to switch to English and writing because of what she saw in his assigned essays.
 
It wasn't much of a jump to realize that maybe he was cut out to be a sports writer.
 
"I'd always loved sports…and, to a degree, writing. I used to wake up at 7 a.m. Saturday mornings and turn on College Gameday instead of cartoons," he said.
 
Jones loved sports and had played baseball, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, football and hockey. From the age of five, he'd dreamt of playing professional football.  
 
"When I found out I was too small for that (he's 5-9, 135 pounds), it became basketball…until I found running," said Jones.
 
Jones was homeschooled through the fifth grade. But his mother Carrie Jones wanted to broaden his exposure to other kids his age and get him involved in a middle school sport, even though he'd played a wide range of team sports prior to that.
 
"I really didn't know anything about cross country in the beginning but quickly fell in love with it because of the freeing feeling it gave me every time I did it," he said. And, he liked the challenge of the sport. "There is no better feeling than pushing my body to new limits."
 
Jones began to think about maybe running in college when he placed second on his team during the second race of his high school freshman cross country season. It occurred to him that he might have the skill to run at the D-1 collegiate level after finishing that race in what seemed like a pretty fast time for that point in his running career. "It was then I realized I could take this running thing further than just enjoying it, if I put my mind to it," Jones said.
 
Jones knew he wanted to attend college somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, and he was considering hometown Northern Colorado and Western Washington, but was excited when Portland State assistant track coach Josh Seitz invited him to visit the PSU campus.
 
"On my visit, I could tell that Coach Seitz was going to care more about me as an individual than a runner." He also was intrigued by the vision Seitz laid out for the program for the next few years. "It was clear to me that, if I bought into this like the other team members I met here had, I would excel," he said.
 
After the visit, "I remember returning to my hotel knowing that Portland State was where I was going to spend the next four years."
 
For their part, PSU's coaches felt he'd be a good fit for the transition to a long-distance program they were installing at the time.
 
"He was dedicated to the distance runner lifestyle. Constant improvement is on the forefront of his mindset," said head track coach David Hepburn. "From the beginning, he showed a consistency and dedication to the process. Cody has always been a 10k runner at heart. Thus, he was a solid cross country runner."
 
And as do many young athletes, Jones has grown in a number of ways during his time at PSU.
 
Early in his collegiate career, he was so focused on running fast times and trying to make the traveling team squads that it would drive him to underperform. "I realized toward the end of my time here (in large part due to some major injuries) that I won't remember a time or a place at a meet, but rather memories I made while a part of the team," he said.
 
And as his senior year draws to a close, he's heading for a degree in English and Arts and Letters and two minors in Writing and Communication. He also got some experience that will help him in his chosen career of sports writing.
 
Jones did some writing for GoViks.com "with Andy Jobanek's help," he said. He also wrote occasional feature stories for New Generation Track and Field Magazine, Youth Runner Magazine and Stride Report. He had an internship with the Glenwood Springs Post Independent as a sports reporter this last summer.
 
What he'll take away from PSU are the people he's met and the memories he's made. "I am leaving PSU with a better understanding that running is the most fun when you take a step back to live in the moment, without putting pressure on yourself to perform. In my experience over the last year, that correlates to actually running those fast times you're seeking."  
 
Besides his personal growth and finding a career path (he's already started covering sports, outdoors and the ski industry for the Summit Daily News in Frisco, Colo.), he's had an impact on the PSU distance running program.
 
"His presence has helped shape the culture of our program and his leadership has shown in the latter stages of his career. He will be missed. It has been fun watching him grow into the writer he is today and I look forward to reading his work during his post-collegiate career," said Hepburn.