The Glendoranator, Glendora's Gretchen Jaques, named National High School Coaches Association girls swimmer of the year
Glendora's Gretchen Jaques reached the mountaintop of high school awards today, named the National High School Coaches Association girls swimmer of the year, essentially naming Jaques the top high school girls swimmer in the country. Here's what the NHSCA wrote about Jaques: Nicknamed "The Glendoranator" for her domination of her two current signature events, the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, Jaques completed a two-year sweep of the Southern Section (SS) Division 2 titles in both events, giving her a perfect 8-for-8 record in Division 2 individual finals, and also won SS Masters titles in both events. She is ranked No. 1 among high school seniors in both events. Jaques was the SS Division 2 champion in the 50 and 100 freestyle her freshman and sophomore years, and the SS Masters champion in the 50 as a freshman. As a junior, Jaques broke U.S. Olympian Janet Evans' national high school record in the 200 individual medley - a record that had stood since 1988 - in the preliminaries, and in the finals, she set the all-time California high school record with a time of 1:57.91, breaking a nine-year-old record. She also set the Division 2 meet record in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.83). She was the Swimmer of the Meet at the USA Swimming Short Course Junior Nationals in December, scoring a meet-high 94 points, and was honored by Sports Illustrated magazine in its Faces in the Crowd section in the Jan. 24 issue. A three-time San Gabriel Valley Tribune Swimmer of the Year, Jaques will attend the University of Texas.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
Links
Tribune Prep Sports
Miguel Melendez's prep blog
In the Huddle
ESPN
OC Varsity
San Bernardino Sun Preps
LA times Varsity Blog
Daily Bulletin Preps
Whittier Daily News Preps
LA Daily News Preps
Long Beach Press Telegram Preps
Daily Breeze Preps
Dyestat Track and Cross Country
MaxPreps
Rivals.Com
College Level Athletes
Miguel Melendez's prep blog
In the Huddle
ESPN
OC Varsity
San Bernardino Sun Preps
LA times Varsity Blog
Daily Bulletin Preps
Whittier Daily News Preps
LA Daily News Preps
Long Beach Press Telegram Preps
Daily Breeze Preps
Dyestat Track and Cross Country
MaxPreps
Rivals.Com
College Level Athletes
Congrats Gretchen! Now this is a great athlete. And why I think individual sports are so much more important than team sports. Your numbers are your numbers and while a coach can help you improve, you either have it or you dont. We will be seeing her in the Olympics, mark my words:)
This is a great accomplishment and Gretchen deserves so much credit for getting this award but the unsung hero in all of this is the Coach at Brea Aquatics who has been training her and the best swimmers in the Valley for years. If you look at the Tribune Top swimmers each year almost all of them swim for Brea Aquatics which works out at Mt. Sac. year round.
One parent told me that of the top 3 relays at CIF (12 swimmers) 9 of them were Brea Aquatic swimmers. Jim Johnson is the man at Brea Aquatics who has coached all these fabulous swimmers.