Jones wins one state event, takes second in another to lead New Kent to 8th place finish in 3A swimming

Julianna Jones captured first in one individual event and second in another to lead New Kent’s girls swimming team to an eighth place finish in the 3A state meet held Feb. 19 at the SwimRVA/Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond.

Jones won the 100-yard freestyle in 52.35, edging Cave Spring’s Paige Assaid, the top seed from earlier preliminaries, who finished in 52.88. Jones was seeded third heading into the final, but was ranked first coming into the event following regional competition.

Jones took second in the 200-yard freestyle, an event she won a year ago. This time out, she was clocked in 1:52.64, just behind Riverside’s Claire Nguyen (1:51.33).

Jones teamed with Meghan Coleson, Zorey Sargent, and Morgan Bowman to place third in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:45.33) and fifth in the 200-yard medley relay (1:54.08).

Coleson, meanwhile, won sixth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:01.83 and 14th in the 100-yard butterfly (1:02.71). Sargent took 10th in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.92) and 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.22) while Bowman placed 12th in the 500-yard freestyle (5:46.90).

Overall, New Kent scored 130 points. Western Albemarle won the state title with 298. Twenty-six teams scored during the competition.

On the boys’ side, New Kent placed 20th out of 24 teams with 24 points (Western Albemarle managed a sweep with 351). Chase Ladd, Phil Hansen, Blaine Williams, and Dylan Bowman placed 10th in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:40.04) and 12th in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:39.79).