Artesia High School senior swimmer Jonathan Darnell has made a name for himself in New Mexico over the past few seasons. Aug. 6 in Clovis, Calif., he put the West on notice, as well.
Competing at the Western Zones Championships, Darnell swam the maximum seven events, reaching the “A” finals in the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes and 100-meter butterfly.
He proceeded to place second in the 100 back with an AAAA time of 59.36, just .4 of a second off the overall junior national time. He finished fourth in the 100 fly with an AAAA time of 57.25 and fourth in the 200 back with an AAA time of 2:10.60.
Darnell additionally reached the “B” finals in the 200-meter individual medley, placing fifth with an AAA time of 2:14.19. In the “E” finals, he finished seventh in the 50 freestyle with an AAA time of 25.35, and he was 60th in the preliminary round in the 100 freestyle with an AAA time of 56.00 and 75th in the 200 free with a 2:04.29.
Anywhere from 250 to 300 swimmers competed in each event at the championships, with four final heats comprised of the top 32 swimmers in each event, five in the 50- and 100-meter events comprised of the top 40.
It was an impressive end to the summer to say the least for the Bulldog senior and went a long way, AHS coach Shelley Ebarb said, to showing Darnell what he’s capable of achieving.
“This meet was great for him,” said Ebarb. “He really did not think he could compete at that level, and he was almost content to be where he was. But he’s had so many things happen to him. This was about the first year he’s actually made it through a summer without being injured and being able to train, so he got himself to Carlsbad this summer, trained a lot on his own, and then got to California and discovered he could compete with those guys.
“We’re going into new territory now. He’s not that far off the national times in his 100 backstroke, so he has a whole lot more confidence in himself right now because he’s figured out he can do this. He’s aspiring to bigger and better things.”
