North Carolina State University Athletics
From raw to refined to champion
2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming
Feb. 24, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - The only concern the NC State swimming coaches had when they recruited Cullen Jones was his color: they thought he was a little too green.
That's because Jones, though talented, had never been to any of the biggest junior swim meets. He swam for his high school in Irvington, N.J., and he swam the club circuit, but the rail-thin sprinter was not an elite swimmer when he made the decision to join the Wolfpack.
"He came in raw, in his competitive experience and his athletic ability as well," Wolfpack coach Brooks Teal said. "He has come a long way."
How far? Well, in the last year, the junior sprinter has been to the NCAA Championships, the U.S. Swimming Nationals and the U.S. Olympic Trials, where he swam in front of more than 10,000 people in Long Beach, Calif.
So in three years, the two-time ACC champion has become one of the most accomplished Wolfpack swimmers since David Fox, who won the 1993 NCAA title in the 50-freestyle and a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
Jones goes into the ACC Championships, which began Wednesday in Atlanta, with one of the 10 fastest 50-meter freestyle times (19.96) recorded in the country this year. Jones and his teammates got off to a good start on the first day of the conference championships, setting an ACC record in the 200-yard medley relay at 1:27.46. Jones' had an 18.69 split in that race, one of the fastest recorded splits in NCAA history in the 200 medley relay.
Today, Jones begins his heats in the 50-yard freestyle and begins preparation for his other two events, the 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. So far this year, Jones has won 11 times in those three events this year.
"Cullen came in very green to the sport, with a very limited background to the sport as far as workload," said sprint coach Chad Onken. "We all knew he would improve. I'd be lying if I said I knew he would improve this much. But he is a pretty special swimmer."
Jones is also unique in another sense: he's only the second African-American swimmer in NC State history.
That's not unusual. As a sport, swimming is still dominated by white athletes. Of the some 550 men's and women's swimmers and divers in the ACC, there are only a half-dozen African-Americans.
It's not much different anywhere else in the country, at any other meet Cullen has competed in.
"I can probably count [the other African-Americans] on two hands at most of them," Jones said. "In high school, there were a lot more African Americans. When you get to college, it kind of thins out. I am not sure why."
All Jones knows is why he began swimming. He tried other sports. He played some basketball, practically a requirement of someone whose father played college basketball in New York. But he chose his own path, one that his late father, Ronald, who died of lung cancer in 2000, came to accept.
"My whole thought has always been, I want to do something other people aren't doing," Jones said. "I played basketball when I was younger. The competition was fierce, but then so was swimming. That's what I enjoyed doing."
Of course, when his friends at home found out that Jones decided to head south for college, they were surprised.
"I was like, I have a family down there with the swim team," Jones said. "So it has never been an issue here. Everyone here has been welcoming."
Mostly, Jones has spent his three years in North Carolina becoming one of the best swimmers in the ACC. He won both the 50-free and the 100-free at last year's ACC Championships as a sophomore, and if he wins another this year, he will become only the 21st swimmer in NC State history to win at least three ACC titles. If he wins both, he will become the fifth Wolfpack swimmer to win four ACC titles.
No swimmer in the school's well-decorated history has ever won five individual titles.
Jones' improvement under the tutelage of Teal and Onken have been remarkable. They fine-tuned his technique and stroked his confidence. They got him in the weight room and made him lift weights, which helped him add 30 pounds to his spindly 6-foot-5 frame. They have transformed him from someone with raw potential to a fine-tuned competitor who now dreams of the 2008 Olympics.
"He has the attitude for when he sets a goal, he is going to work his butt off to get it," Onken said. "He and I talk on a pretty consistent basis. We have talked about the World Championships and the World University Games. He asked me what it would take to qualify and I gave him rough estimates and -- boom! -- he's been working hard to get it."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
