Roman Jones Posts 54.25 100 Fly, Moves to 32nd All-Time in 15-16 Age Group

USA Futures Championships – Richmond

• July 29-August 1, 2021
• Collegiate School Aquatic Center, Richmond, VA
• Long Course Meters
• Meet Information
• Results on Meet Mobile
• Psych Sheets
• Streaming Instructions

On night 3 of the Richmond Futures Championships, 16-year-old Roman Jones threw down a best time of 54.25 to win the men’s 100m butterfly. 

For Jones, who swims for the Jersey Flyers, the swim marked a lifetime best by over a half second, dropping .64 off of his previous best of 54.89. With his performance, Jones now ranks 32nd all-time in the 15-16 age group, just ahead of Olympic legend Ian Crocker. 

In the men’s 100 butterfly, the entire podium featured swimmers from the 15-16 age group, as second place went to 16-year-old James Misto of Bluefish and 15-year-old Simon Bermudez of Nation’s Capital finished 3rd. Both swimmers posted best times in the race, with Misto cutting over 3 seconds off of his entry time. 

The men’s 400 freestyle also featured a tight race, as 18-year-old Zachary Ward managed to get his hand to the wall first in a time of 3:58.05. Ward, who swims for the Boyertown YMCA Navy Seals, cut about a second off of his best time with his swim, going under the 4:00 barrier as well. 

Behind Ward, 16-year-old Joshua Parent of Bluefish narrowly untouched 20-year-old William Mullen for second, with times of 4:00.20 and 4:00.68, respectively. So far this weekend, Parent has been perfect in individual podium finishes across all 4 of his individual races, winning 2 of them. 

In the women’s race, 16-year-old Erin Gemmell of Nation’s Capital dominated the event, coming in over 3 seconds ahead of the field. Gemmell, an Olympic Trials finalist, touched in a time of 4:13.41 to claim first, just off of her best time of 4:11.57. 

21-year-old Nicole Maier had a strong swim to finish second, cutting over 6 seconds off of her best time to finish in 4:16.26. Maier had an interesting race strategy, negative splitting 3 out of the 4 100s, including a 31.27 split on her final 50. 

Fellow 21-year-old Andrea Fischer claimed the top spot in the women’s 200 breaststroke by over a second, finishing in 2:33.07. Behind her, 16-year-old Eleanor Sun cut over two seconds off of her best time to claim second overall in a time of 2:34.63. 

Other Highlights: 

• 20-year-old Sarah Watson won the women’s 100 butterfly with a time of 1:00.25, coming within a few tenths of her best time. 
• 22-year-old Eric Veit swam to victory in the men’s 200 breaststroke with his time of 2:20.13, which cut over 8 seconds off of his entry time.