Jones enjoys stellar evening, qualifies twice for regionals

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 15, 2016 10:09 AM

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Fighting every breath and hearing her teammates yell "go!" as she churned through the pool, Jazmin Jones finally touched the wall.

She heaved a sigh of relief.

And then she looked at the bright red time posted for her lane.

2:26.51.

At first, Jones - a freshman - didn't quite understand what she had accomplished.

Then it sunk in.

She easily eclipsed the standard qualifying time for the eastern 3-A regional in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) by more than three seconds.

"No, I didn't expect that," Jones said of the first-place finish. "I was really tired near the end of the breaststroke... had to breathe every stroke on the freestyle. I really wanted the regional cut."

Later in the evening, Jones claimed the 100 butterfly with a meet-winning and regional-qualifying time of 1:06.15.

In all, nine swimmers punched their tickets to either the eastern regionals in their respective classifications or the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Class 1-A/2-A state championship meet inside a sweltering B.G. Darden Natatorium on Monday evening.

Rosewood's tandem of Dalton Ira and Jack Lyon advanced to the east 1-A/2-A regional in two events. Ira won the 200 free and 500 free, while Lyon - who has fully recovered from shoulder surgery - topped the competition in the 200 IM and took second in the 100 free.

Ira, Lyon, Damon Merritt and Owen Blevins flirted with a regional time in the 200 free relay.

"A fine job gentlemen," RHS head coach Natalie Ira said.

Aycock's Zech Chastain stamped his regional ticket in the 50 free and 100 back. Chastain won the 50 free by 5.05 seconds and destroyed the backstroke standard time by more than 10 1/2 seconds.

Chastain, in the offseason, worked out with an upper-class team in Greenville where he fine-tuned his technique and speed in the pool.

"Everybody has been working really hard...expecting a really good year from everybody," Chastain said. "We've all been working on different aspects, starting with technique and building on from that, so it's helped me a lot."

Goldsboro's Anna Breck secured regional-qualifying spots in the 200 IM and 100 back.

Wayne Christian's Anna Rendall is headed to the NCISAA championships in the 100 free and 100 back.

Three Wayne Country Day competitors will join Rendall. Raleigh Benson won the boys' 200 IM. Grace O'Daniel qualified in the 50 free and 100 back. Zan Pittman easily made the state cut in the 100 free and 100 breaststroke.

"The first meet is always going to be about technique over speed," WCDS head coach Lance Thornton said. "We've got a little bit of work (to do) in terms of making sure that their strokes are where they want to be for races. Every kid gets really excited at their first meet so sometimes they over stroke.

"We're very happy with how they swam."