ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: JASON OWEN

Jason Owen

School: Cape Central

Sport: Swimming

Coach: Dayna Powell

Week Report: Owen completed an outstanding high school swimming career by taking second place in state in the 200-meter freestyle and third in the 100 backstroke. He snapped his own school records in both of those events in Saturday's state finals in St. Peters and was seven-hundredths of a second from winning the 200 and claiming his first and only state championship. (He took second in the 200 and 400 freestyle his junior year). He also helped Central's medley relay team qualify for the finals on Friday and swam on the 400 freestyle relay, which took eighth at state.

Season Report: Of the eight different individual swimming events, Owen owns the Cape Central team record in five of them. Owen, who will attend Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on a swimming scholarship, went his junior and senior regular seasons without being beaten in any event and this year led the Tiger swimming team to a 9-3-1 record, its best in nine years.

Coach's Comments: "He had a heck of a week last week," Powell said. "He definitely has a gift for the sport. He loves basketball, his whole family loves basketball, but he definitely has a gift for this sport. He's just one of the best that I've ever seen. He can swim any event. He's strong. He's competitive. He's smart. He knows what it takes to win. He's one of those kids a coach loves to have on their team. He's a leader on the team. You get someone like that behind you on a relay and it gives the whole team confidence."