By Cort Reynolds
HARROD__By the time she graduates next spring, Allen East three-sport standout Rilynn Jones will be one, if not the most decorated female high school athlete the area has ever produced.
It is highly possible that Jones could make all-state in all three sports. She already has achieved that lofty goal in track and soccer, with basketball being the third and hardest All-Ohio team she has yet to crack.
Achieving such a triple crown would be a singular accomplishment. Ohio expanding its number of divisions for high school sports should help, too.
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Tremendous speed and acceleration help her excel in soccer, basketball and track, as well as a relentless attacking style and good skills – accompanied by a highly competitive attitude.
What spawned her competitiveness? “My parents always said I was always super-competitive with board games as a little kid,” she noted. “I used to play with boys for soccer and basketball, and being the only girl I had to be competitive. I always loved to win.”
She has two younger brothers and lives right outside of Harrod.
At 5-5 and 120 pounds, she isn’t exceptionally tall but more than makes up for it with great tangibles like speed and skill, and intangibles like intensity and desire.
She has the type of drive that leads to diving recklessly for a loose ball despite leading by 40 points vs. Ridgemont. The fire that leads to attacking the net constantly in soccer. The passion that led to near tears when removed from a game as a freshman sixth man after receiving a bad charging call.
A soccer scoring machine, she netted a whopping 44 goals (2.4 per match) last season in leading AE to the district semifinals, where they were edged by Bluffton. She also doled out 14 assists to score 102 points, an average of 5.7 per outing.
“When I first met Ri her freshman year she told me she was just playing soccer to get in shape for basketball,” recalled AE head soccer coach Steve Roeder.
“Well, after three first team All-NWC and two second team all-state awards – and numerous school records broken – not too shabby for just getting ready for basketball,” he noted.
“Rilynn’s work ethic and her determination to excel is what drives her to be the best in the classroom and on the field,” added Roeder.
What makes her such an effective soccer player?
“Definitely being fast is one of my strengths,” she said. “I can usually go around people. I have good ball skills and smarts. I know the game and have played club soccer since I was young, so I was around the game a lot.
“This year I want to get to 100 career goals, and break the school record of 104 set by Leah Casey. I also want to make first team all-state,” she said of her season goals.
In order to reach them, she says she needs to keep improving and working.
“I have to learn some new moves and how to shoot from further out,” she noted, “since I will probably be getting face-guarded even more this season.”
The Mustangs finished 15-4 overall and 5-1 in the Northwest Conference to finish second to only Bluffton in 2023. In her three seasons, AE has posted a 36-15-4 overall record (11-3-2 in NWC) as she has netted 95 goals.
In her sophomore season she set the school record for goals in a game with seven scores vs. Lima Senior. She set the program mark for assists in a season in 2022 with 18.
The goal-scorer was named 2023 NWC Player of the Year as she made her third straight first team all-league showing. Jones was voted first team all-district and all-region in Div. III last fall for the second straight year
To top off her historic campaign, she repeated as a Div. III second team all-state selection in soccer for 2023. About the only things left for her to accomplish on the soccer field is to win a league title – although defending champion Bluffton will be hard to overtake – and make first team all-state as a senior.
Shift gears to winter sports, trading the soft surface of the pitch for the hardwood.
A tenacious point guard, she led the Lady Mustangs in scoring (16.3 ppg) and steals (3.5) to earn first team All-Northwest Conference status last season.
Her stellar all-around play helped pace AE to a sparkling 21-3 record (6-2 NWC). The Mustangs lost two tough games to start the conference campaign, then ran the table and were playing as well as anyone in the league as the season finished.
AE put together a 12-game closing win streak and set a program record for wins in a season with 21. But the streak and season ended with a close loss to Delphos Jefferson in the districts.
She set the program mark for steals in a season (84) and enters the year with 903 career points.
“In basketball I need to improve my shooting and learn better how to shoot with a defender right on me,” she said. “And I definitely need to make more of my free throws.”
Jones got to the line a lot and converted 68 percent last season, although she tended to shoot better in the clutch. She earned a team-high 138 free throw attempts last year.
Jones is an excellent defender, very good driver and streaky three-point shooter who uses her quickness and creativity to set herself or teammates up for open shots. She penetrates and passes well, and is unselfish. This coming season, she may need to be more selfish as a finisher.
With the graduation of Ohio Northern University-bound standout wing Savana Brooks, Jones will have to score more this season even as opponents key on her.
“It was nice having her because we played super well together,” Jones said of Brooks. She noted that the dynamic duo had played together for six years since teaming up in AAU ball in sixth grade.
The skilled and athletic Jones/Brooks tandem made first team all-league, and comprised one of the best one-two punches in the area over the last two seasons.
Jones has a chance to become the all-time Mustang girls scoring leader by the time the 2024-25 season concludes if she has a huge scoring year, averaging about 24 ppg. Legendary guard Jamie Zerbe, who led AE to the state final four in the mid-1990s, is the school points record-holder at around 1,380.
Improved shooting from outside would help her add an all-state basketball laurel to her already impressive resume.
“She has taken a big step in the leadership category for us,” said AE head hoop coach Aaron Montgomery of Jones’s development. “She is helping our younger girls and talking them through things.
“She has put a lot of hours in the gym this summer working on her shooting, especially off the dribble,” he continued. “Moving forward I want her to just continue on those things, along with being our leader on and off the floor.
“She has the ability to have kids follow her, and she is starting to realize that,” the coach noted.
As a sophomore, Jones was tabbed second team All-NWC after helping the Mustang girls to a 17-7 record.
“I want to score my 1,000th point, make first team all-district and carry it on to all-state honors,” she said of her basketball goals. “As a team I think we could compete for the conference title too this year.”
When the weather breaks, it is on to the outdoor track for Jones.
This past spring, she returned to the state track meet for the third consecutive time and finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles. Jones also came in a solid ninth in the 100-meter hurdles.
She set school records in both events last year at 44.7 (300 hurdles) and 15.4 (100 hurdles). If she stays healthy, the Mustang will be an overwhelming favorite to make state four years in a row.
“My goal as a senior is to be on top of the podium and win state (in the 300 hurdles), and make the podium in the 100 hurdles,” said Jones.
Jones repeated as NWC 300-meter champion at the 2024 league meet in Bluffton. She won the district and regional titles in the 300 hurdles as well.
As a freshman, she took 14th in the 300 hurdles at state. As a sophomore, she moved up to fifth at Dayton.
“Rilynn is a leader just by example by the way she carries herself,” said Mustang track head coach Brady Crea. “Teammates and classmates gravitate to her in both athletics and school.
“She has worked incredibly hard over the past three years and progressed in a variety of ways, from making it to state her freshman year to working up the podium each of the last two seasons.
“She puts in the extra work,” he continued. “From her work ethic and now experience, she can continue to progress her senior year. Everyone in our program is excited for what is to come from her.”
So of the three, which is her favorite sport?
“Track is probably my favorite sport,” she said. “I fell in love with track more after this past season. I started to put more work into track and made it back down to state.”
As for her college plans, right now she favors attending Miami of Ohio, with IU-Indianapolis also a remote possibility.
“I have a few options; I am leaning towards Miami of Ohio to run track,” Jones said. “But I am keeping all my options open.”
She became interested in speech pathology after a school job shadowing project. “I am always wanting to help people talk and speak correctly, and to make a positive change,” she said of choosing that as her likely field of study.
Jones and AE embark on their senior soccer season when they visit backyard rival Ada on Saturday, August 24 in the nightcap of a boys/girls doubleheader at 7 p.m.
“This coming season will be a little different without Aubrey (Young),” said Roeder, in regard to the graduation of a 25-goal scorer last year. “But we have some younger players ready to step up and play. We will look at some different formations and sets to get Rilynn some opportunities to do what she does best,” he added.
