Mar 19, 2025
It has become an annual ritual for Jamestown Community College swimming and diving head coach Todd Conklin to join his athletes in the water after winning the National Junior College Athletic Association Non-Scholarship National Championship. Photo courtesy of JCC Athletics
Todd Conklin has grown accustomed to what has become an annual ritual. It works like this: sometime in early March, the Jamestown Community College swimming & diving coach takes his men’s and women’s teams to the NJCAA Championships.
Some years the event is in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Other years it’s only required a 75-mile drive to the Burt Flickinger Center in downtown Buffalo.
Regardless of the venue, the goal is always the same: by the end of the weekend, Conklin hopes to get wet.
Soaking wet.
As in, dive-off-from-the-pool-deck-clothes-and-all drenched.
Because that celebratory ritual means only one thing.
It’s spelled: N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N.
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Consider what the Ashville resident has accomplished during his five-year tenure with the Jayhawks:
¯ 2023-24: Competing at Indian River State (Florida) College, the Jamestown CC women captured the Non-Scholarship National Championship, highlighted by Madison Kramer claiming the Female Swimmer of the Championships; and the four-swimmer men’s team placing third. During their stay in Fort Pierce, the Jayhawks set 14 school records and claimed 61 All-American honors.
¯ 2022-23: Coached the women’s team to an NJCAA Region 3 runner-up finish where Conklin coached 20 all-region honorees en route to being named the NJCAA Region 3 Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year. At the NJCAA Championships, Conklin had five individual All-Americans, including Madison Kramer, who was named the non-Scholarship Swimmer of the Meet and Athlete of the Year.
¯ 2021-22: Led the women’s team to its second consecutive NJCAA Swimming & Diving Non-Scholarship National Championship, with Tia Moppert being named the Non-Scholarship Swimmer of the Meet. At that meet, Conklin had 14 individuals earn All-America status, with four relays also claiming that honor. At regionals that season, he guided the women’s team to NJCAA Region 3 runner-up honors with 15 total all-region honorees.
¯ 2021: Coached the women’s team to the 2021 NJCAA Non-Scholarship Championship while also guiding both the men’s and women’s teams to the Region 3 and Western New York Athletic Conference championships. Furthermore, 50-yard freestyler Karianne Yuchnitz became the Jayhawks’ first-ever women’s national champion; nine swimmers earned All-American honors; and 44 claimed all-region recognition.
Conklin continued to add to his bulging resume earlier this month.
Competing at the Flickinger Center, the Jayhawks had what has been described as a “national championship for the ages.”
How so?
Well, the women claimed another NJCAA non-scholarship team title, its fourth overall and third in a row; the men finished a program-best second, just 37 points behind Monroe CC; and freshman Zach Johnson from South Africa was selected the non-scholarship Male Swimmer of the Championship and the Male Swimmer of the Year.
In addition, Jamestown CC collectively ended the meet with 67 All-American honors, 10 program records and a pair of Region 3 records.
“It’s the program that we’re building and the tradition we’re building,” Conklin said. “It’s been tough, but we’ve been fortunate enough to do a tremendous job with not only (getting) local talent, but also finding a couple of those really good swimmers internationally.”
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On the final day of the NJCAA Championships, Conklin pulled each team aside for a little chat.
“I told the girls, ‘Listen, if we win this, we’re going in the pool, because national championships are not just given away,’” he recalled. “These memories and these ‘big splashes’ matter. It’s something we’ll never forget.”
Until March 2026.
By then, it should be time for a rinse and repeat, don’t you think?
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