Tennessee’s Ashley Jones has a tremendously inspiring story. At 14 years old, she was in an ATV accident and lost her right arm. That did not stop her from continuing in sports. She was a soccer player and then competed in triathlons before fully committing to running as a junior in high school.

She was a cross country standout for Valor Christian High School in Colorado. She started off her NCAA career at High Point and joined Tennesee’s team this past fall. She was one of the team leaders during the cross country season with strong finishes at the SEC Championships and NCAA South Regional before going on to finish 42nd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships to lead the Vols to a sixth place team finish.

Now she’s getting ready to hit the track in the coming weeks but joins us with some exciting news that she has signed an NIL deal with On.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠

Guest:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ashley Jones | @ashley_carolinej on Instagram

The following interview excerpt has been edited lightly for clarity. You can listen to the full interview with Ashley Jones on the CITIUS MAG Podcast – available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows.

CITIUS MAG: Congratulations on signing an NIL deal with On! What's the most exciting part about this?

Ashley Jones: It’s my first big NIL and I'm excited that everything's breaking on the same day. I'm really looking forward to it. It's been an amazing process working with Kevin from On, just looking towards the future with some really exciting things that we have coming down the pipeline. It's going to be a good time. I'm looking forward to it and am very humbled.

CITIUS MAG: What has been the coolest part of joining and getting to know On?

Ashley Jones: I'm so excited to get to know all of them. Yes, their goal is to have us get to know each other and cheer each other on, but the company is very unique in the way that they address the athletes. They're very in tune with getting to know the lives of the athletes – not only with the way that they train and knowing which athletes are racing where, but also what's going on with their lives…

It makes me confident moving forward with the holistic approach to running, like how a bad race can result from a multitude of reasons. It can be training, but it can also be what’s happening in your life… I'm just humbled at the opportunity and excited to continue to work and race and get to know all of them.

CITIUS MAG: What is the most important thing that you think you bring to a brand?

Ashley Jones: I desire to bring a story of someone that didn't have the fastest PRs coming out of high school, and for that to be a story that rings in people's ears – that you don't have to be the fastest national champ coming out of high school to have success in college. I think that's been a testament of the training, especially this last semester, and the training looking forward. But it can be done, with building and being patient and just buying into the process.

CITIUS MAG: Following the ATV accident and having your arm amputated, what did you tell yourself to accept that this is the reality that you have to live with now?

Ashley Jones: One thing that's been a coping mechanism with all of that is laughter and just the comedy of it. You can't take those scenarios so seriously because they will have an effect on you if you really think about them. When I'm with my friends or with my family, we laugh about it because it's not something that people see everyday and it's not their fault that they might have a reaction that you don't feel like is warranted. If the response is super negative, then you lose the opportunity to be like, ‘no, it's okay — there are people that can run in the NCAA that are amputees, there are people that can do really cool things that are also amputees,’ or whatever that might be, you fill in the blank.

CITIUS MAG: What are the biggest takeaways you've had as you start to see these bright points of success and big moments like signing this NIL deal?

Ashley Jones: Reflecting back on when the Runner's World magazine was written to now, it's just remembering all the things that I've been through. It's remembering that really amazing time that they took to write that article to reach so many people. And again, just being in a sense of awe that people read it and were encouraged. Now it’s looking at what I've been through, and what my younger years looked like, and remembering that I still have a reason to wake up in the morning and trudge through the pain sometimes and commit myself to something.

How amazing it is that (my story) can reach people and encourage them and give them a hope that their life has purpose, that their life has meaning, that their story is not over. That's something that I've trusted in and have bought into the fact that my story is not over. And like we talked about, it's continuing to get revealed… ​​

The Runner's World magazine was written specifically to reach runners, but hopefully they know that their life can look amazing outside of running, and that even when running is not going well, they can still find hope and joy in a bigger purpose. I'm so grateful that that's been steadfast through the Lord over these last couple of years. I will continue to come to him because he has so much grace and mercy. I'm just following his lead and following his footsteps. It’s not a passive process. Stepping out in faith when I was 14 wasn't passive and stepping out in faith now isn’t passive. So I’m trying to encourage people that life doesn't just happen — you have to buy in and step out and know that there are great plans. I think that's my biggest takeaway.

CITIUS MAG: The Tennessee cross country team had such a surprising and really good showing at NCAAs. How big of a race was that for you? And how do you get this to translate even more on the track?

Ashley Jones: I think one of the biggest components was just consistency. From summer training and then coming into Tennessee, I was really consistent throughout the whole season. I think that was my biggest confidence builder going into a lot of the races. A lot of what we did as a team was not always seen. I think we were continuing to build in SECs and then regionals and then having it come together more at nationals and even surprising ourselves.

It was exciting to also be the underdogs throughout the season and grow in the ranks. That was always a fun thing to talk about and to get excited about. And then just buying into training and buying into the friendships and time together was always a good time. I think it was an amazing season and the question in front of us now is how we take that season knowing what works and what doesn't work and translate it into indoor and outdoor season.