Jones Wins National Title in 100

Former Rio Mesa and Thousand Oaks High track and field standout Marion Jones won the 100-meter dash and qualified for the world championships Friday night at the USA Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis.

Jones, 21, ran her third consecutive strong race, winning her first national title by running 10.97 seconds into a headwind. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers withdrew.

Jones had electrified the spectators at Indiana University Track and Field Stadium in Thursday’s preliminaries and semifinals with the year’s two-fastest times, 10.98 and 10.92 seconds.

Jones graduated from Thousand Oaks in 1993, two years after transferring from Rio Mesa.

On Friday, she capped a superb comeback after missing the 1996 season because of foot surgery. But the point guard on North Carolina’s 1994 NCAA champion basketball team is now devoting all her time to track.

“I’ve been training hard for 13 weeks,” she said.

Jones said she expected to win.

Jones had shown her potential in high school, when as a 16-year-old junior she finished fifth in the 100 and fourth in the 200 at the 1992 Olympic trials.

She won nine state championships in high school.

This is the first time Jones has qualified for a World Championship or Olympic team. She will compete for the U.S. National team in the World Championships in Athens in August.

Jones declined a place on the 1992 Olympic team as a 400-meter relay alternate, saying she didn’t want to rush things.

Jones had hoped to take another shot at the Olympics last year, but she was sidelined by a broken bone in her left foot.

Now she is healthy and ready for a world championship title.

Devers, the 1993 world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, withdrew from the final with a sore right calf muscle.

If the International Amateur Athletic Federation decides to add “wild card” entries for the World Championships, Devers could possibly participate, along with other world champions and Olympic gold medalists such as Michael Johnson and Dan O’Brien.