Community: Area swimmers get to meet Cullen Jones, Ryan Lochte
Community: Area swimmers get to meet Cullen Jones, Ryan Lochte
By Jeff Mills | Posted: Thursday, October 17, 2013 11:00 pm | Updated: 3:57 pm, Fri Oct 18, 2013.
The swim meet wasn’t on the schedule for the GCY Makos, but the last-minute invitation was too good to turn down.
After all, it came from an Olympian.
Cullen Jones, the four-time Olympic medalist and former N.C. State star, held his inaugural Cullen Jones Diversity Invitational in Charlotte last weekend, a three-day meet open to swimmers ages 8 to 18.
“We didn’t know about the meet,” said Brad Herndon, swim team director and coach for the Greensboro Community YMCA. “We didn’t have it on our schedule, but a couple of our kids got a personal email blast from Cullen Jones saying, ‘Hey, this meet is coming up so ask your coaches about it.’ It was a quick turnaround, but we’re really glad we decided to go.”
Jones designed the swim meet, co-hosted by the Queen City Dolphins team, to be multi-ethnic with a focus on education and fundraising to promote diversity in the sport.
He got backing from Speedo and his SwimMAC teammates, including fellow Olympic star Ryan Lochte.
Lochte, 29, is an 11-time Olympic medalist who holds four world records. He moved to Charlotte this month and plans to stay much of the next three years, training with SwimMAC coach David Marsh for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
“We took 25 kids, and they all had a great time,” Herndon said. “All our kids went really fast. They did well in the pool, but the real thrill was definitely meeting the Olympians. I can’t say enough about Cullen Jones. A lot of meets are named after people, but that’s where it ends. This guy was actively involved the whole time. He was on deck with the kids and making announcements, really engaged.”
So was his mother. Debra Jones spoke to parents on the first night of the meet, Herndon said, sharing her own experiences of raising a son who loved swimming but was a late bloomer in the sport.
In the pool, the Makos had several strong performances including the top-scoring swimmers in the 11-12 age group, Omega Pinnix and Craig Herndon.
Craig Herndon won eight races: the 200-yard individual medley (2:20.55), 100 IM (1:06.07), 500 freestyle (5:44.63), 100 freestyle (58.25), 100 breaststroke (1:14.43), 100 backstroke (1:05.98), 50 backstroke (30.23) and 50 butterfly (30.21). He was second in the 50 breaststroke (35.00) and 50 freestyle (26.96).
Pinnix won the 200 individual medley (2:28.78) and 100 butterfly (1:08.44). She took second in the 100 IM (1:09.39), 100 backstroke (1:10.41), 100 breaststroke (1:21.72), 50 breaststroke (36.85) and 50 butterfly (30.44).
They were among nearly 500 swimmers at the meet.
“After this year, they expect about 1,000 swimmers next year,” Brad Herndon said. “I know we plan on going back. We had such a good experience there.”
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