The men came up just short of their first regional title since 2021, finishing in second with 472 points, just 30 points shy of Genesee. Combined, the Jayhawks were the top-scoring program at regionals.

“Overall, thoughts are that both the men and the women had terrific regional championships,” said head coach Todd Conklin, who earned the 2025 Women’s Coach of the Year. “While the ultimate goal of winning both championships may have fallen short, it was not from the performance of my student-athletes. Pretty much the majority of our swims were either lifetime or personal best. As coaches and as athletes, we couldn’t ask for a better performance, especially when we weren’t rested or tapered,” added Conklin.

Day three started with the 50 fly, where Willow Chase carved almost two seconds off her qualifying time to finish fourth. Daniel Peterson followed that up with a second-place swim, just missing out on the top spot.

Jamestown’s winning ways returned in the longest race of the meet, the 1650 free. The Jayhawk’s Sophia Gervasio dug deep late to take first, ahead of teammate Addison Lawson in second. For the men, Samuel Hersom found himself just off the leader’s pace for a second.

The JCC men are pictured with the runner-up plaque.

That was followed by the 100 free, where JCC earned a second from Emily Swan, who was outtouched by just .02 seconds. Cassie Lyon came in fourth. For the men, it was another first and second from Peterson and Cameron Milewski, respectively.

Next up was the 200 back, which saw Desiree Putt blitz the competition, winning by almost 20 seconds, with Gervasio coming in third just after finishing the mile swim. Christian Merrill notched another third for the Jayhawk men.

Then came the 200 breast and more firepower from South African Roxanne Lothian, who not only won but did so by over 30 seconds. Katrina DeGroff earned fourth-place points for JCC. Zach Johnson found himself in another battle, just falling short for second place, with Diego Villarroel grabbing a fifth.

All eyes then shifted to the diving well for the men’s 1 meter, 6 dives, and the gold kept coming from Milewski, who scored 16 all-important points for JCC with his latest diving win.

After a 15-minute break, the swimmers were back in the water for the final event, the 400 free relay, where JCC swept the men’s and women’s swims. The ladies team of Putt, Swan, Lothian, and Lyon won by over 10 seconds. That win made it a perfect eight-for-eight for Lothian, earning her the Swimmer of the Meet honor. The men’s team of Johnson, Milewski, Hansom, and Peterson snatched their victory by over four seconds.

It was a great weekend for all the Jayhawks, but two stood above the rest: Roxanne Lothian, who set a pair of program records: 400 individual medley and 100 breast. For the men, Zach Johnson continued his fantastic JCC career by breaking two more Jayhawks’ records: 100 breast and 50 breast. Cassie Lyon also set a program mark in the 1,000 free.

“Breaking five program records is something to be said about the work that these kids have been putting in since September. Anytime you can break a program record, especially not rested, it goes a long way,” mentioned Conklin.

While JCC is proud of what they accomplished in the regional championships, this is the latest step in their journey to the national championships.

“The most exciting time of the year is in front of us,” said Conklin. “We have two weeks to prepare for the biggest stage and to try to bring home our fourth straight women’s national title and fifth in six years, and the goal to bring home the first-ever men’s national championship has not left. The results that we got this week really set the momentum and the bar extremely high for what we are still capable of doing. This group of student-athletes have so much more that they’re about to experience with even greater swims. As coaches, we know that we will have them ready, and we know that in the first week of March these kids will be ready to swim their best on the biggest of stages,” proclaimed an excited Conklin.

The National Junior College Athletic Association swimming and diving national championships take place in Fort Pierce, Florida, at Indian River Community College starting Wednesday, March 4th, and running until Saturday, March 7th.