Boys' Swimmer of the Year: James Wood's Jackson Sitton

WINCHESTER — Jackson Sitton might not make a lot of noise outside of the pool, but his actions sure resonate loudly when he's in it.

The James Wood junior is The Winchester Star Boys' Swimmer of the Year as a result of a season in which he was the only local boy to score points at the Class 4 state meet and was one of only two people to post the area's fastest times in multiple events (the 200 and 400/500 free).

Sitton was also a member of James Wood's 200 free relay team, which was the fastest in the area and the only boys' relay team of any kind among the four area schools to participate in the Class 4 state meet.

Needless to say, James Wood coach Alan Cavanagh was certainly glad to have Sitton on this year's team. The distance freestyle star spent his first two years at Handley before transferring this year.

"It was truly a blessing," Cavanagh said.

And it wasn't just because of Sitton's large point production, which not only took place at the state meet but also helped James Wood beat all local teams at the Region 4C meet and win the Black & Blue Invitational, a six-team meet that also featured Frederick County rival Sherando.

"He really pushed these guys in practice," Cavanagh said. "Jackson is really quiet, but then you see him mentoring people like Brenden [Cassidy] and some of the other first-year swimmers. You see him in the locker room, helping the other guys out. When you've got 30 swimmers, you can't speak to them all the time. So what he did was great."

For Sitton, who began swimming when he was 5, giving his all toward swimming has never been a problem.

"The amount of dedication it takes to succeed [is why I love swimming]," Sitton said.

Sitton's hard work had already made him one of the area's best swimmers before he arrived at James Wood. As a sophomore at Handley, Sitton qualified for the Class 4 state meet in the 200-yard freestyle and placed 16th. Converted to meters, Sitton improved his time from 2:03.33 before the state meet to 1:59.28 at the competition held at SwimRVA in Richmond.

"I dropped a lot of time at states," Sitton said. "I surprised myself. Coming into this season, it gave me confidence I could do better."

Sitton's improvements would show up for a different team though in James Wood. Sitton said he found out around Christmas of his sophomore year that he would be attending James Wood as a junior.

A year-round swimmer, Sitton already knew several of the James Wood swimmers before his transfer, because he was teammates with them on the Winchester Swim Team. As a result, he was OK with the move.

"I was excited to meet new people who are also interested in swimming," Sitton said.

For years, Sitton said his strongest events were the 200 free and 100 fly. But Cavanagh said halfway through the season that Sitton decided the 400/500 freestyle would be a better secondary event for him come postseason time.

"Last year, when I did the fly, I thought I maxed out," Sitton said. "I didn't think I was going to drop any more time, and I didn't think I was going to go fast enough to make the state cut [this year]. I knew that the 500 wasn't really going to be a fast event at regionals, and I knew I could make states by placing [in the top five] even if I didn't get the specific state [time]. So I just focused on doing that."

Sitton's decision did pay off well. Sitton won the 500-yard freestyle at the Class 4 Northwestern District meet by a whopping 28 seconds in 5:00.36 in addition to taking second in the 200 freestyle in 1:48.72.

Needing to finish in the top five to qualify for the state meet, Sitton placed fourth in the 500 free at the Region 4C meet in 5:01.30, 29 seconds ahead of the sixth-place finisher. Sitton, who had already qualified for states through time placement, took second in the 200 freestyle with what was then a season-best time of 1:46.02.

At the Class 4 state meet in SwimRVA, Sitton was a bit disappointed with his preliminary performance in the 200 free, recording a 1:49.05 after missing two of his walls. Sitton's time was the 12th-best among 18 swimmers in the prelims.

In the finals though, Sitton won the consolation heat with a personal-best time of 1:46.01, which was better than one of the swimmers who advanced to the finals.

Sitton also achieved his best time of the year in the 500-yard free at the state meet with a 4:56.08 in the prelims. Sitton's 400-meter conversion time from the 500-yard free is an improvement of 24 seconds from last year (4:43.06 to 4:19.06). In the finals, Sitton placed 14th in 4:57.52.

All in all, it was not a bad season for Sitton in his first year at James Wood.

"He was a great addition to the team," Cavanagh said. "His hard work paid off."

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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