Jones to Follow Up His First Star Turn

The ultimate job for swimming’s newest star doesn’t have anything to do with the pool.

“The Style Guy for GQ on a monthly basis -- the ideal job,” Cullen Jones said.

But Dolce & Gabbana are safe for now. The current challenge is Lezak & Schoeman -- sprinters Jason Lezak of Irvine and Roland Schoeman of South Africa.

In less than 22 seconds, Jones, 22, of North Carolina State Aquatics, became the breakout swimmer at the national championships in Irvine this month in a meet dotted with Olympic stars Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol and others.

He won the 50-meter freestyle in 21.94 seconds, beating a marquee field of Lezak, Neil Walker and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Gary Hall Jr., who recently resumed training. Jones then backed it up by finishing third behind Lezak and Walker in the 100 meters.

Hall was impressed, as were Hansen and Phelps. Mark Schubert, national team head coach for USA Swimming, used the word “spectacular” to describe the Bronx-born, New Brunswick, N.J.-reared Jones.

“The final of the 50, in comparison to the Olympic trials, was a loaded heat,” Hansen said. “You had Neil Walker, Gary Hall, Jason Lezak, all these guys that have been there, and the experience, and then you put Cullen Jones in the mix, and I thought he came out a shining star.”

Jones will be competing in his biggest international meet to date, against the other top Americans and Schoeman, in the Pan Pacific Championships, which start today in Victoria, Canada. The 100 freestyle is Friday and the 50 freestyle on Sunday.

North Carolina State swim coach Brooks Teal has been impressed since Jones arrived on campus largely unknown and not heavily recruited.

“He elevates everybody around him.... He can break world records in the 50, you can see that,” Teal said.

One school of thought is that the 50 will end up being the lesser of his two events.

“One of the things my coach always said is that no one has a finish like I do,” Jones said. “And I had to play to my strength and work backward. My strongest point in the 100 is the end, so I need to figure out how to start faster than a lot of other people.

” ... After I take my breath in the 50, I always seem to get a burst of energy and get faster. I need to work on trying to get to my top speed off the start. That’s why they say my 100 probably is going to be my strongest event. It seems like I take a few strokes to get into my comfort zone.”

In Irvine, Jones spoke about setting an example for African Americans, showing kids there are other sporting options, and spoke Tuesday in a telephone interview from Victoria about how his late father, Ronald, was unhappy about his choice of swimming, though he later came around.

“He wanted me to be a basketball player,” Jones said. “It was like an unwritten law in the house.”

With a 6-foot-5 son, the father probably had visions of the NBA. Instead, Cullen put a poster of Hall on his wall.

Not too many years later, Hall was hanging out with Jones at the USA Swimming training camp in Irvine last week.

“It’s more of me just learning from his charisma, his confidence, more than actually training itself,” Jones said.