Different Stroke Puts Her in the Fast Lane

Swimmer Amy Jones of Cleveland High, who switched specialization from the butterfly to the freestyle three years ago after leaving the Valley Monarchs swim club for Canyons Aquatics, has been among the best freestylers in the region ever since.

The 16-year-old sophomore proved that during the City Section swimming championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, where she defended City titles she won last year in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events.

In the preliminaries, Jones shattered City records she set last year in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle. In the City finals the following week, she eclipsed her record in the 100.

Jones has been named The Times’ Valley / Ventura County girls’ swimmer of the year.

“I kind of surprised myself with how well I did,” she said. “I’ve been sick a lot this year, and I hadn’t been going to practices as much. This whole year, I haven’t really expected much of swimming.”

She should have. In the preliminaries, Jones swam the 50 free in 23.54 seconds, breaking her 1998 record of 23.88, and she won the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.93, nearly a second faster than her 51.81 last year.

After a sub-par time--by her standards--of 24.05 in the final in the 50 freestyle, Jones rebounded in the 100 final to lower her record to 50.79.

“I was really kind of mad about it,” Jones said of her time in the 50 final. “After that, I was just really like, ‘I hope I don’t embarrass myself in the 100 now.’ ”

Jones need not have worried.

Her final 100 time was the 12th-best by a high school girl in the nation this year and was good enough for Jones to qualify for All-American status.

“I felt pretty good after that,” she said. “I was like, ‘I wish I could swim the 50 again.’ ”

Jones’ preliminary time in the 50 also was good enough for All-American status.

She swam anchor legs on Cleveland’s 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. The 200 team was second in the City finals in 1:50.47 and the 400 team placed fourth in 4:01.36.

Jones helped Cleveland score 115 points to finish fourth in the girls’ team competition, and she earned girls’ swimmer-of-the-meet award.

“When she first got here, she had been training primarily in the butterfly,” said Bruce Patmos, Jones’ coach with Canyons Aquatics in Valencia. “But I told her, ‘You’ve got a freestyle [stroke] that could take you places.’

“Amy’s the kind of person you kind of have to convince. But we started going to meets and seeing her freestyle times dropping more than her butterfly.

“That only had to happen a couple of times.”

Now, Jones believes her coach.

“I think I competed very well this season,” she said. “I really did make the best of what I’ve got.”

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* THE TIMES’ GIRLS’ ALL-REGION SWIM TEAM: PAGE 12