Kendrick Jones Jr

Lake Belton HS, Temple, TX, c/o 2026
AthleticNET Bio

Kendrick was always running when he was younger; down and back on the sidewalk was the most common. His parents decided to put him in the Tempo Flyers Club at age 5 years old. 

By the time age eight rolled around, he was getting faster. He finished fourth in the 100m in 14.30 and in the 200m in 29.20 at the AAU JO Nationals. By the time he turned 11, he won the 200m in 25.20 and finished fourth in the 100m (12.46).

He was faster than most kids and has always been a bit bigger too. His birthday is early in the year, April 3.

“I feel like it’s something I’ve always had,” he says. “ I just kept developing faster than most people my age.”

He played basketball and football. He plans to play this upcoming year on the varsity team. He’s a small forward/shooting guard who’s forte is catch and shoot from the three point range. He averaged 14 points a game last year.

Kendrick is motivated by records and trying to improve on his previous year's times. Last year, at age 14, he set two AAU JO National meet records. He won the 100 meters in 10.76 and the 200 meters in 21.93. In the prelims, he ran into -0.5 wind to finish in 21.25- that tied the age 14 record run by Kaj Baker earlier in the year at the Florida State championships.

He maintained that fitness this past year, his  freshman year. Though he played basketball and trained a bit, he won the Nike Indoor Nationals in 21.45 just missing Tyrese Cooper’s 21.22 frosh record set in 2016. He thought he’d run a bit slower than that given his training schedule and was pleasantly surprised.

His high school coaches had him running with the juniors and seniors this past season. His workouts were based around longer intervals. He says of a typical week of training;

“I think it's a mix of sprints and long distances. Sometimes we start our practice with like 800. We’ll run at about 2:30 or 2:40 pace. Then we'll do a couple of 400s and then short sprints out of the blocks for six seconds. Then we do this workout we call ‘around the world’ where you run 100 meters, stop and then turn around and run the back the other way around.”

His favorite workout is one where he runs 200s at 70-80%.

“We run 200s at I say going like 70-80%, working on our form and our drive phase and stuff for 200m. We’ll do two of those with one minute rest and then take three minutes and do it again. I run high 23, low 24.”

Two days prior to big races, he doesn’t run. He just uses the massage gun to loosen up his legs.

During his high school outdoor season, there were a lot of expectations for the youngster. Though windy, his 10.42(+3.9) and his 20.80(+3.0) at the region meet made him one of the favorites coming into the Texas 5A State Championships. 

His first race went well as he finished fourth in a new personal best of 10.41(+1.1). 0.02 seconds separated the first from fourth places with Jones being edged out by 0.007s. The top six were within 0.08 of each other. The time just missed the frosh record of 10.35 run by Jamar Ervin in 2000 and the age 15 record of 10.31 run by Marcellus Moore in 2018 and Nyckoles Harbor in 2021. He remembers the race as giving him some confidence for his favorite race, the 200m.

“I was a bit nervous at  first. I ran my first race and I felt good…… like I actually could have a chance to compete against them because I got a good start, but then they just came.I knew I had a good chance to win because the 200 is my race and I felt good.”

With that added confidence, he claimed the 200m title in 20.57(+2.6). 

“When I was in the blocks, I was nervous. Then I got out and it just all went away. I caught the second fastest qualifier halfway through the curve, so I knew I had to keep that and no one would catch me then. Going down the straight away and kept good form.  I was a little disappointed that it wasn't wind legal but I still got the win so that was good.”

Being so good so young has attracted a lot of attention. Kids come up to him after races and ask for pictures. He appreciates the recognition.

“I feel pretty good to be recognized,” he says.

This summer has been a busy one. After state, he started working out again getting ready for his summer races. He went to Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene in June. There he came in with the fastest qualifier in the 100m, 10.50, but in the final slipped out of the blocks and fell forward and was DQ’ed in the final. He felt he was ready to run that race, but afterwards shook it off. 

The 200m went better. He finished second with a 21.05 running out of lane 9 which he found difficult. “ It was tough,” he says. 

Then at the end of July, he spent three days in Eugene for the Nike Elite Summit before going to AAU JO Nationals in Des Moines, IA. 

He finished second in the 100m in 10.57 and then in the 200m he came away with a win in 21.15.

In the future, he hopes to challenge Erriyon Knighton’s records. Knighton has a best of 20.33 as a sophomore. He missed the frosh and age 15 records this year, but sees taking additional time off his best.

“I’d like to go 0.7  faster in the 200m.”