HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Hempfield High School is beaming these days. They’re celebrating 2014 alum Jasmine Jones, who is competing in the two-woman bobsled at the Winter Olympics in Milan.
Jones graduated the same year as Bridget Williams, who competed in track and field in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
WPXI went to Hempfield High School, where it’s all smiles and Black Knight and USA pride.
“Jasmine was fun and silly, but as soon as practice starts, she was all business,” said Dave Murray, Jones’ former indoor track coach at Hempfield.
Murray got a front row seat to the work ethic of a future Olympian. Jones was a track star at Hempfield and then at Eastern Michigan University, where coaches evaluated her sprinting and weightlifting skills and steered her toward bobsled.
“Very, very competitive, worked very, very hard on the track, worked very, very hard in the weight room,” Murray said. “A great kid, a leader of the team. If someone was slackening in practice, she would step up.”
It wasn’t just on the track. That hard work spilled into the classroom, too.
“You know she did not like doing poorly on things, and she would get frustrated, and she would certainly push back and do what she needed to do to become better at it,” said Jim Steeley, Jones’ former English teacher. “She gave 100% everything she ever did.”
That all-out effort paved Jones’ way from the track to the bobsled, and now, representing Team USA on the world’s largest stage.
But back to Jones’ role on the track team at Hempfield.
“She was a part of an incredible team. They won two state titles outdoor. In my opinion, maybe the best team in state history,” Murray said.
Hempfield has never had an Olympian until Williams made the team in 2024, and now Jones in 2026. Both were in the same graduating class, the Class of 2014.
“You have people that are super talented, but when the lights come on, they can’t compete. And Jones and Bridget could compete,” Murray said.
Two kids growing up in Westmoreland County are now showing the kids at Hempfield that it could be done.
“I think anytime one of our students can see someone of their own do amazing things like that, I think just opens up doorways for them and makes them realize that anything’s possible,” Steeley said.
They’re showing through words and actions the blueprint for success in sports and life.
“The kids that worry about it all the time are the ones that are most likely to make mistakes, and the kids that can enjoy themselves outside of practice,” Murray said. “But when it comes time to compete, they can compete, that was Jasmine.”
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