“Coach Jahnke, singing along to ‘Stitches’ while we were waiting around at a meet, definitely. He will probably hate me for saying that,” sophomore Jamon Davis said about his favorite memory of the season. This is the first year Davis has done swim and he is thoroughly enjoying it. “I didn’t think I would be any good, because I’d never done it. I was honestly just hoping I wouldn’t drown,” he said.
There’s only one home meet each year so that means lots of bus rides. “I usually try to sleep, but that doesn’t usually work, so I listen to music, my top three go-to songs would be, You Can’t Stop Me by Andy Mineo, 100 by KB, and Sidelines by Lecrae. I [got my personal best] after listening to that one,” Davis said. As for a favorite pre-meet snack, “I like bananas, the potassium helps prevent cramps,” he said, “After meets, I love poptarts, because they taste good, and there’s lots of sugar.”
As a rookie on the team, Davis looks up to senior Brian Kennedy. “He’s a great swimmer, and a real team leader.” Speaking of great swimmers, Davis has already swam against the best swimmer in the state. “Matthew Novinski, he’s a junior at Grand Island, currently he’s half of a second away from qualifying for the Olympic Trials. That’s something that I can tell my kids someday,” he said. “My favorite part of the season so far was the Cotter Invite. Everyone who wins their heat gets a banana. I didn’t win my heat, but it was totally fun.”
The season has had its moments of embarrassment for Davis “We were at a meet, swimming a 400 relay, senior Mitchell Parrish was in the pool, and he was supposed to do times across and back. I lost count and jumped in after his 50. I just about nailed him, and we’re lucky he didn’t go to the ER. Also, I really don’t like how my race is at the very end of the day, and I just sit and kill time.”
“I just love how competitive the sport of swimming is. It just fuels me. It’s totally great, but if I could change one thing, I would make every pool in Nebraska a salt water pool because chlorine is awful, and it hurts your eyes,” he said. Davis has only been swimming for a short time, but has really done well and we can only speculate what will happen for his next two years.

Other State Qualifiers

Boys 200 Medley Relay: Montana Heffernan, Zane Leibhart, Ethan Darling, Brian Kennedy-1:52.17
Boys 200 Free Relay: Ethan Darling, Zane Leibhart, Zak Folchert, Brian Kennedy-1:38.60
Boys 100 Breaststroke: Zane Leibhart-1:06.53
Boys 50 Freestyle: Brian Kennedy-24.03
Boys Diving: Quentone Larson 311.10

Girls 200 Medley Relay: Kelly Fitzpatrick, Syble Heffernan, Kayleigh Wagner, Cassidy Eggers-2:04.24
Girls 200 Individual Medley: Syble Heffernan-2:25.95
Girls 100 Breaststroke: Syble Heffernan-1:15.17