In this photo that was taken last week at the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame, Jamestown Community College swimming & diving coach Todd Conklin holds the plaque he was presented after being named the Women’s Coach of the Year at the NJCAA Championships earlier this month in Fort Pierce, Fla. The Ashville resident is also standing next to the plaque and photograph of CSHOF inductee Bill Rollinger, who is an assistant coach on the Jayhawks’ team. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Todd Conklin didn’t initially take to the water as a youngster, but as it turned out all he needed was a gentle figurative nudge from his friends.

And now, more than three decades later, the Ashville resident and Jamestown Community College swimming and diving coach is certainly happy that he took that initial plunge in the pool when he was a freshman at Panama Central School.

The Jayhawks are glad he did, too.

“Todd does such a great job,” said Jamestown CC athletic director George Sisson. “He knows what he’s doing and he sticks to his plan. You have to trust the guy. All he has is results. It’s wonderful.”

Check out this list of accomplishments during Conklin’s four-year tenure with the Jayhawks:

¯ 2022-23: Coached the women’s team to an NJCAA Region 3 runner-up finish where he coached 20 all-region honorees en route to being named the NJCAA Region 3 Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year. At the NJCAA Championships, Conklin had five individual All-Americans, including Madison Kramer, who was named the Non-Scholarship Swimmer of the Meet and Athlete of the Year.

¯ 2021-22: Led the women’s team to its second consecutive NJCAA Swimming & Diving Non-Scholarship National Championship, with Tia Moppert being named the Non-Scholarship Swimmer of the Meet. At that meet, Conklin had 14 individuals earn All-American status, with four relays also claiming that honor. At regionals that season, he guided the women’s team to NJCAA Region 3 runner-up honors with 15 total all-region honorees.

¯ 2021: Coached the women’s team to the 2021 NJCAA Non-Scholarship Championship while also guiding both the men’s and women’s teams to the Region 3 and Western New York Athletic Conference championships. Furthermore, 50-yard freestyler Karianne Yuchnitz became the Jayhawks’ first-ever women’s national champion; nine swimmers earned All-American honors; and 44 claimed all-region recognition.

But the best was yet to come.

Competing in the NJCAA Championships earlier this month at Indian River State College, the Jamestown CC women captured the Non-Scholarship National Championship, highlighted by Kramer claiming the Female Swimmer of the Championships; and the four-swimmer men’s team placing third. During their stay in Fort Pierce, Florida, the Jayhawks set 14 school records and claimed 61 All-American honors.

“I look back at the results from last year when we lost the national (women’s) title by six points,” Conklin said. “We only scored 232 points. This year we scored over 425 points. It was a tremendous performance by all of our women.”

And when the championships were complete, Conklin was named the NJCAA Women’s Coach of the Year.

“I was shocked,” he admitted. “You’re dealing with scholarship schools and non-scholarship schools. This award has usually gone to the scholarship side. Obviously, we had a tremendous meet and finished fourth overall out of 13 teams in the nation by beating many of those scholarship teams. It was a great performance for us.

“When they announced my name for National Coach of the Year I was truly blown away. I’m still blown away. I don’t know if there’s a higher honor that I could have received.”

Watching it all first-hand was Sisson, who made the trip to Florida as well.

“If I was a local swimmer, why wouldn’t you come here?” he said. “(Conklin) is a proven entity. ” … He’s getting them to perform at a very, very high level. I think he does a great job. He’s not only getting them to be better swimmers, but the culture of his team is very tight.”

Conklin’s journey to the top of the NJCAA swimming world has been an interesting one.

“Funny or not, I was never really planning to swim,” he said. “A bunch of my best friends were swimmers (at Panama Central) and I would always go watch them swim. Then, in my ninth-grade year, they said, ‘Why don’t you come join us,’ and so I did. Come to find out, I was pretty good at it.”

After high school graduation, Conklin swam at Salem-Teikyo (West Virginia) University and eventually coached at his high school alma mater for 14 years before taking over the Jamestown CC program in 2019. His staff this year includes Claire Johnson, Emily Spitz and Chautauqua Sports Hall of Famer Bill Rollinger.

“We have great coaches, we have great commitment by our coaches, and our kids truly buy into what we believe,” Conklin said. “At the end of the day, our success has spoken volumes.”

Added Sisson: “We’re very, very fortunate. … I hope he never decides to go anywhere.”