Brent Jones has steadily improved during his four years at Virginia and this season has rolled to a 17-4 record and a No. 19 standing in InterMat’s 197-pound national rankings. The redshirt junior has racked up 31 career falls, which is second in Virginia history and just three shy of the school record.

Known for his aggressive style in previous seasons, Jones has toned it down this year, thanks to his valuable off-season wrestling experience at the national and world level in 2008. Jones won the 211-pound title at the 2008 University National Freestyle Championships and also competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and the University World Championships during the last offseason. He has put those experiences to good use this year and is off to a 17-4 start with a team-best nine pins.

Where do you feel you are at thus far?
Jones: Compared to last year, I am doing a lot better. I had an awesome summer with the Olympic Trials and Worlds, but I am really critical of myself. I know that I have a ways to go.

How exactly are you critical of yourself?
Jones: I’ve always been a high goal-oriented person. I’m not really going to be satisfied until I get a national championship. I set a goal and I go after it.

What was your summer like, competing at such a high level?
Jones: It was an amazing experience. Wrestling in the Olympic Trials is something that a lot of people never get to accomplish in their lifetimes. Going out to worlds, to represent your country, is an amazing thing. You’re the guy that everyone in your country is looking up to. You get to experience how other countries wrestle and see different styles of wrestling. It was a lot of fun.

Tell us about your style of wrestling.
Jones: This year I’ve calmed down my style a bit. I used to go absolutely crazy on my opponents and get worn out. I would be all over the place. This year, I’ve learned to be really calm and then explosive when I need to be. That’s one thing I learned at worlds. I attack them when I get them into good positions.

How has your offseason helped this year?
Jones: It has been tremendous. My style has changed because I used to be all over the place and now I’m calm and ready because of things I picked up at worlds. For example, the Russians and eastern Europeans wrestle really calmly and then they are explosive when they need to be. They conserve a lot more energy and set the other guy up. You don’t need to do all the motion you let the other guy do it and get him out of position and then you explode.

You need three pins to tie the school career record, but are records something that matter to you?
Jones: Not really. It’s where we are at in March that really matters. I don’t even know how many pins I have this year or look at online rankings. It just comes to down to who shows up in March.

Your dad wrestled collegiately at Iowa State. Does he give you any pointers?
Jones: All the time. My dad is another reason why I don’t need to look at rankings or who beat whom. My dad will call me on a daily basis and ask me what I’ve seen and I just tell him I don’t really care.’ He really gets into the matches and after this last weekend he came up to me and asked why are you trying to give me gray hairs?’

Talk about where you are academically right now.
Jones: I’m in my fourth year of undergrad and my first year of the master’s program with exercise physiology. I’m what they call a hybrid’ that’s what they call me at the hospital since I am still in undergrad but also working on my master’s. I work at Martha Jefferson Hospital in cardiac and pulmonary rehab.

What do you want to do with it?
Jones: I’m pre-med so I want to go to med school or push that off a little bit so I can continue my international wrestling career. Then I want to go to PA (Physician’s Assistant) school.

How did you get interested in that field?
Jones: It started in high school. I planned on going into engineering and even had engineering credits. But then I had one teacher in my human anatomy and physiology class that convinced me. I had missed a bunch of classes because of wrestling and I came in for a test one day and he told me I didn’t have to take it, but I said I would still take it. I got a 100 and all four bonus questions right, and he said he never had that before. So he convinced me from there, plus I really love helping people and making them smile.