Making the move from Florida to North Carolina was nothing for Bona Jones.

She was born in Virginia and then moved to Israel when she was 1, Germany when she was 2 years old and then back to the United States to Florida when she was 16.

So, when faced with the decision of whether to attend Florida, Florida State or N.C. State, location didn’t play much of a factor.

Her dad worked for the government and was the reason for every place she moved. He worked with foreign relations and government service.

But Jones said it didn’t bother her. She got to travel and see a lot of the world while in Europe.

“It was really cool — it was such a good experience,” Jones said. “I got to travel everywhere and experience different cultures.”

She spent the majority of her life — a little more than 13 years — in Stuttgart, Germany, a city in the southern part of the country. During those 13 years, she took a lot from the country. She learned cross country and the German language, a language in which she is fluent.

Jones said the people were “incredibly nice,” and everyone spoke English despite her knowing their language.

“I liked the people,” Jones said. “Even though I knew German, they spoke a lot of English, and they were really nice.”

Her schooling went well too because she actually went to an American-based school. She described the school as “very similar to what we have in the United States.”

Outside of school, Jones was competitive from the start. She played soccer at an early age, and that is when she started to run.

She picked up cross country in seventh grade when her soccer coach said he wanted everyone to run cross country.

“Running was less competitive because we only competed against other military schools from other bases,” Jones said. “There just weren’t that many kids running.”

She continued to get better at cross country and decided to run in high school while in Germany.

Associate head coach Laurie Henes, who has led the women’s cross country team the past few seasons, said having a less competitive atmosphere has been part of the reason Jones has seen such success this season.

“She was running with people who weren’t up to her level,” Henes said. “We don’t think she had the type of people there that could push her the way we do here.”

When she was 16, she found out her family would leave Germany.

Her father was retiring and her family was moving back to the United States, this time to Florida. It was her junior year in high school, and she enrolled at Estero High School in Estero, Fla.

Jones immediately joined the cross country squad at her high school. Except this time she wasn’t limited to just cross country. She picked up track, too.

And as she did in Germany, she dominated at her new high school as well.

With the success came scholarship offers. After garnering interest from Florida, Florida State and Columbia, she heard from N.C. State in November of her senior year.

“Coach [Rollie] Geiger called my school, and then I called him back and talked to him,” Jones said. “He introduced himself and let me know that I would be hearing from him.”

After some thought and some more conversations with family and coaches, she decided on the Wolfpack.

“The people in the program, its history and many other things played into why I wanted to come here,” Jones said.

She said the weather didn’t play much of a factor in her decision. Her coach said Jones should have no problem running in the cold.

“She doesn’t like being cold,” Henes said. “But she won’t have a problem running in the cold.”

If she wants to succeed, that’s exactly what she’ll have to do as the NCAA Nationals are held in Terre Haute, Ind.

But so far, success hasn’t been much of a problem for Jones. She took fourth place at the Notre Dame Invitational and 11th place at the NCAA Pre-Nationals, which were also held at Terre Haute, Ind.

Jones said she is surprised with her finishes so far.

“It’s really surprising,” Jones said. “Our workouts have just been going really good. We work together really well as a team. And when the training goes well, you know you are going to do [well].”

Along with her running and her teammates’ running, State has plunged into the national spotlight. After being ranked 13th, the team has gone from there to fifth and now to No. 2 in the nation.

During the last race, Jones said she heard spectators commenting on the team.

“You could hear people on the sidelines like, ‘Wow, look at N.C. State,'” Jones said.

But with all the success for Jones in the first part of the season, the team is trying to make sure it doesn’t over-train the first-year runner.

“I don’t think I’ll wear down,” Jones said. “We’re pretty smart about it — we’ll take easy days. We have trainers and all sorts of things to make sure everybody stays healthy.”