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Gabe Jones

SALT LAKE CITY — St. Joseph Catholic High School’s swim team placed second in their division at the state swim competition, held Feb. 8 at Brigham Young University, led by senior Gabe Jones.

Jones, the team’s captain, set a new 3A record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.20, breaking the state record of 49.27 he had set last year. That won him a gold medal; he also took first in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Named Swimmer of the Meet, Jones had previously set a 3A state record (1:49.65) in the 200-yard IM on Jan. 24 at regional competition.

“It’s really fun being able to set those records, especially now knowing that that’ll probably stick on to 3A records for a while, being able to be out there in history. Some of the records I broke were back from 1980s, 1990s, stuff like that,” said Jones, who has continued a winning tradition in the pool started by his older brother Will, who also broke state swim records while competing for the Jayhawks.

Gabe Jones, who has signed on to swim at the University of Denver next year, credits his coach Kyle Lambson with much of his and his team’s success this year. Lambson has been Jones’ club technical coach since he was 9 years old.

 “So him being on the team this year, really just helped everyone out because he’s got really positive energy,” Jones said. “He helps bring everyone together and so having him there was awesome.”

For his part, Lambson has seen Jones grow as a swimmer and as a leader, he said. “When you start getting to the level of Gabe, it’s really fine tuning; there’s so many little, teeny nuances to improve. I’ve [also] really watched him step up in his leadership and use his heart and his mind together a lot more and to be able to not get too excited, not get overwhelmed. He just produced a lot of resilience this year.”

Three other Jayhawks, Tommy Bakker, Danill Kulynych and Griffin Lindquist, qualified for state but did not compete in individual finals. As a team alongside Jones they competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay, and the 400-yard freestyle relay finals, but did not place.