North Carolina State University Athletics
Cullen Jones to Compete in NCAA Championships
3/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming
March 19, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C - Wolfpack sophomore Cullen Jones will represent NC State University at the 2004 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships from March 25th - 27th in East Meadow, New York. Jones was one of a few ACC athletes to obtain an automatic qualifying standard. Continuing the winning tradition in being the most successful men's swimming team in the ACC, Jones won the 50 yard free (19.70) and 100 yard free (43.59) at the conference championships. During the 50 years of the Atlantic Coast Conference's existence, Wolfpack sprinters have now won 25 titles in the 50 free, and 24 in the 100 free. Jones' times rank him second in school history in both the events behind 1996 Olympic gold medalist and NCAA Champion David Fox.
While in New York, around 60 other competitors will try to do what the sprinters in the ACC couldn't do - "keep up with the Joneses."
"Outside of the US Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games, the NCAA Championship is the fastest meet in the world," assistant coach Chad Onken remarked. "There will be several World and American records broken in East Meadow. Having Cullen at this meet, representing the Wolfpack is pretty big. This can be a real breakout meet for Cullen to establish himself as a major player on the national and international swimming scene. With him only being a sophomore, the future looks very bright for him and the rest of the team here at NC State."
Jones is as humble as they come, and is intent on going out and competing hard. He realizes that this is a great experience for him to accomplish some very special things. "I want to swim the most technically correct races that I can, and I feel if I stick with that then I can hopefully place pretty high," says Jones. "Chad (the sprint coach at NCSU) reminds me all of the time about perfecting the little things in my races. If I can do the little things right, I'm confident that I should swim fast at NCAA's."
"One of the best things about Cullen is that he adapts well to any type of situation. Regardless of whether it's in athletics, academics, or any other facet of life - Cullen responds very well when he is in pressure packed moments," commented Chad Onken. "This meet is just a part of his development into continually improving and becoming the best swimmer that he can be. If he stays hungry and works hard, he can leave NC State as one of the best to ever swim here. The sky really is the limit."
Jones starts things off Thursday the 25th with preliminaries of the 50 freestyle beginning at 11:00 am. On Friday he will take part in the 100 butterfly and will wrap things up on Saturday with the 100 freestyle.
