High school junior Roman Jones from Chatham, New Jersey broke the Independent National High School Record last night in the 100 SCM free with a time of 49.75.
Jones, who recently committed to Cal, is the 9th-ranked recruit on our Way Too Early List of boys from the high school class of 2023.
Jones swims for Pingry, which trains and competes out of a 25-meter pool. The Pingry School is the former team to two high-level breaststrokers in Matt Fallon and Nic Fink. Jones also represents the Jersey Flyers Aquatic Club.
The 100 free is arguably Jones’ best event, already boasting a best times of 43.83 (SCY) and a 50.51 (LCM) as a junior in high school. Jones has no official SCM times in the USA Swimming Database.
Jones’ 49.75 breaks a decade-long Independent National High School Record, dating back to December of 2011. Jeremy Wong of the Peddie School previously held the record with a time of 50.10.
That time is also faster than Destin Lasco‘s Public National High School Record (49.95) from 2017. Lasco, a sophomore at Cal, and Jones will overlap as college teammates for one season.
While high school meets are typically raced in short course yards, short course meters are also an approved course, and the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association keeps records in both.
Roman Jones ‘23 set a new scholastic national record today in the 100 free of 49.75!! pic.twitter.com/NNtua03Gv5
— Pingry Athletics (@PingryAthletics) January 18, 2022
Bro really double breathed on the last breakout and still went that time.
What a talent.
could swim swam ever post a breakdown of all hs records? i feel like theres a million different ones (public, national, private, etc) and i dont know what’s what 😭
https://swimswam.com/records/boys-overall-national-high-school-records-scy/
Scroll down and you’ll find the various categories.
Congrats! 🐻
Sick
That was really impressive against little competition – looked like he was swimming solo. The A lane talent that Pingry has been producing this last decade has been fantastic. And Durden seems to be cementing the NJ to Cal pipeline (Lasco, Rose, J. Alexy, R. Alexy, and Jones).
Go Roman and Jersey Flyers Aquatic Club!!
That’s awesome. Doubly awesome because he broke the record finishing with his face instead of a full stroke. Loads of potential here.
First read this and scared me thinking he broke the SCY record but still very impressive swim for him stroke looked smooth.