Jamestown Community College swimming & diving head coach Todd Conklin (in yellow shirt) offers instruction to his team at the NJCAA Championships on Wednesday at Erie CC. Submitted photo

BUFFALO — The Jamestown Community College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both occupy second place in the non-scholarship division after Day 1 of the NJCAA National Championship being held this week at Erie CC.

“It was a tough first with a young team,” said Jayhawks head coach Todd Conklin. “I think that the nerves got to us early. Luckily, we were able to swim well enough to get everyone back to the finals. We have put ourselves in the second-place positions that we are. I feel now that everyone has gotten a swim or two under their belts, the nerves have gone away, and we look forward to a successful session tomorrow.”.

South African Zach Johnson had the best day for the Jayhawks. The freshman set a new JCC record in the 50-yard breast with a 27.07; he finished eighth overall, earning All-American status. In the 50 free, Kyle Dean also became an All-American, swimming a 21.60 for 10th place overall. Moving to the 800 free relay, the team of Owen Slojkowski, Noah Miles, Randall Hall and Kyle Camp finished eighth, all earning All-American. In the diving well, Cameron Milewski brought home a fifth-place performance. The freshman finished second among non-scholarship athletes. Lastly, in the distance swim of the 1,000 free, Slojkowski brought home a 14th, just missing out on another All-American honor.

“It was a fantastic job by Zach (Johnson) and Kyle (Dean) as they continued their momentum and led the guys into nationals,” Conklin said.

For the women, Haleigha Hardy started the day off with a personal-best 36.70 in the 50 breaststroke. The sophomore finished 11th overall, good enough to claim the All-American tag. Joining her with that distinction in the individual races was Desiree Putt, who also finished 11th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:38:38.

Emily Swan just missed out on the recognition with her 26.43 in the 50 free. The freshman did set a personal best with her 13th-place swim. A trio of Jayhawks tackled the 1,000 free. Anna Jones came in 13th, Addison Lawson 14th, and Sophia Gervasio 16th. The women finished strong with the 800 freestyle relay, where the team of Hardy, Gervasio, Lawson and Jalyn Linton took fifth with a time of 9:24:69, shaving almost six seconds off their best time.

“On the girls side, several fantastic personal bests overall. The girls on the relay team really led the way,” said Conklin.

The men are in sixth overall, 1.5 points out of the top five and 17 points away from first in the non-scholarship level. Jamestown’s ladies are fifth overall, just seven points out of first in non-scholarship.

“Overall, both teams are sitting in second. We are proud to be where we are at. We have to take the evening momentum and take it to Thursday’s early sessions,” added Conklin.

Day 2 of the four-day championships gets started at 9:30 a.m. The action can be viewed via the stream on the NJCAA website.