Written by David Mann

Albany, Ga.– Darton State College swimmer JD Rousseau swam a 16:54 mile during a dual meet Saturday to post the sixth-best 1650-meter time in the NJCAA.

Rousseau, a freshman from Columbus, beat his own personal record time by more than 30 seconds in Saturday’s dual meet with Thomas University. He was previously ranked No. 10.

First-year Darton head men’s swim coach Will Breehl said Rousseau’s performance followed an intense week of training, and that many of Darton’s swimmers are going to see some season highs as their training transitions. But that will be a little farther down the road.

“We had arguably the toughest week of training this week, and the guys are stepping up to the challenge,” Breehl said. “ We will step it up the next two weeks before we get into our championship cycle heading into nationals.”

The meet also offered the Cavaliers an opportunity to narrow down competitive strategies as they prepare for the NJCAA championship in Buffalo, NY, March 6 – 9.

“The men can swim three events at nationals,” Breehl said, “and right now we are trying to find that third event for some of them. Following this meet, we have a much better understanding of where we want to go. Some of the guys are finally getting healthy, and we are looking to seeing them really start contributing.”