Many help Jonas' trip to China
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By KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
There’s a saying around La Vernia, Texas, these days.
“We’ve got a boy in the Olympics.”
As Richard Hinojosa, the La Vernia High School athletic director said, “And we share Dusty with San Antonio, Nebraska, Texas and the United States.”
That sharing goes a long way, too.
Not only is former Husker high jumper Dusty Jonas, who has the best jump in the world this year of 7 feet, 8¾ inches, headed to the Olympics in Beijing, but so is his family.
Jonas gets his way paid by the U.S. Olympic Committee. His parents, Mike and Donna; his sister, Aimee; are all headed to China, too.
“It’s not quite like a trip to Lincoln for a track meet, which we’ve been a few times,” said Donna Jonas. The trip to the Olympics will cost the family about $12,000.
“We figured the trip to Eugene, Oregon, for the U.S. Trials was our big trip. Then, he qualified for the Olympics and we figured we couldn’t miss that, so we’d take out a loan.”
That’s where Hinojosa, the town of La Vernia and “folks from all over the country” have stepped up. The Jonas’ church held a pancake feed. A local day-care center sent a book of colorings and started a penny drive that the center will match. Most of the businesses in the town of 931 have posters of Dusty in their windows. Donations have come from Nebraskans, Iowans, Texans.
“Some people we met in Eugene have called,” said Donna Jonas. “And Lincoln, that’s a special place.
“So many people have been so good to us, I have to think of a way to thank them all,” she said.
Dusty echoed, “I can’t thank everybody enough. From my parents, to coach (Gary Pepin at Nebraska) to all the people who are helping send my family to China, this is a great feeling.”
Dusty is a son of every place he’s been. From his high school days to winning the NCAA indoor high jump this year to posting the best jump in the world at the Big 12 meet in Boulder, Colo., the lanky Husker has made his mark.
He struggled to qualify for the Olympics. He won a jumpoff for the third spot on the U.S. team. He survived a seven-hour hearing in New York, when Jamie Nieto protested that he should be on the team.
Nieto tied for second at the trials with Andra Manson, but had not cleared the “A” standard of 7-feet-5 inches this year. Jonas had cleared the mark a dozen times. Soon after the U.S. Trials Nieto cleared the mark and took his case to USA Track & Field.
“I was in Barcelona at the time and I had to pay about $200 for the seven-hour phone call and all I did was listen,” said Jonas. “I was nervous because I had attorneys there, and I have to figure out a way to pay them, and this thing went on and on until 11 p.m. and I missed two meals, didn’t get time to practice for a meet there in Spain and I hadn’t done anything.”
Eventually, USATF held for Jonas, who then went on to jump in London and Stockholm. “I didn’t do very well,” Jonas said. “It was a couple of the worst jumps I’ve had in a couple of years. But I was tired, nervous and just needed some time to get my legs back.”
Jonas left for Beijing last week. He’ll jump in the preliminaries on Aug. 17 and try to reach the finals on Aug. 19.
“I’ve had to find a Blackberry because my cell doesn’t work overseas,” he said. “There’s a lot of things you learn about when you leave the U.S. In Spain and Sweden, phones, clocks, ice, all the things you think are normal for hotels, aren’t.”
Jonas made it back to Lincoln for more training with Pepin before taking off for China. He attended the Opening Ceremony and trained with the U.S. team in a Chinese city on the Pacific Ocean coast before moving to the recreational center at Beijing Normal University.
His family will stay at a nearby Best Western. “I think we’ll be able to get together with Dusty because we’ll have some days when he’s not jumping,” said Donna Jonas. “We’d all like to get to the Great Wall, too. I don’t know how often we’ll be in China in the future. And as for seeing the events outside of the two days Dusty jumps, maybe we can scrounge up some tickets to something … water polo or something not sold out.”
Jonas said he’s excited about the chances of earning a medal in the games.
“I haven’t been jumping that great lately, but I’ve had some time to rest up my legs and competition gets me going,” he said. Jonas finished second in the NCAA outdoor meet in June. “I’m going to be under contract with Nike and it’s kind of like pro golf in a way. You win, you get a check. You don’t win, and you get nothing.
“So I’ve got that motivation, too.”
Jonas will finish his work on a degree at Nebraska this fall.
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
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