Sports
Swimming: Aikens Aims High, Looks For Continued Improvement
The Dixon High junior started at age six, looks to push through past high school.
Dixon High School junior Jaida Aikens has gone from taking swim lessons at age six to swimming 6,000 to 7,000 yards per day at age 16.
The increase in effort comes with time and higher expectations, as Aikens hopes that her performances in the pool now get her into college later.
“I would like a scholarship for college, and college swimming is one of my priorities,” Aikens said. “I would like to do that.”
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Aikens took the turn towards competitive swimming in 2006, with a little push from her father.
“I used to do swim lessons when I was really young, and my dad asked me if I wanted to start with the Dixon Dolphins - that it was a swimming thing - and I said ok,” she said.
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Aikens moved up to the USA Swimming-sanctioned Davis Aqua Darts, a local swim club which competes against other swim clubs across Northern California and around the country, in late 2007.
Aqua Darts coach Billy Doughty has seen Aikens blossom rapidly.
“She’s got a lot of talent and works very hard,” he said. “She definitely has shown a dramatic improvement in the last two years. She has really dedicated herself to the sport and that hard work has shown with the results especially with high school swimming. She’s had some great improvements with the section meet.”
Aikens said she has taken almost every swim event she has competed in at the annual Golden Empire League championship meet, with the exception of the 50-yard freestyle her freshman year.
In the Sac-Joaquin Section championship meet, Aikens finished in the top 16 in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke her freshman year, and finished in the top 8 of the same event her sophomore year. According to its Website, the Sac-Joaquin Section covers schools 190 schools and with a total enrollment of 290,000 students.
Those are performances Aikens believes she can improve on this year.
“I would like to at least get a top three (medal-earning positions) finish in a Sac-Joaquin Section meet for the 200-free or the 100-breast because those are my favorite races,” she said.
In addition to swimming over thousands of yards per day, Aikens started Crossfit training in early June. She hopes the added training will help her reach a podium finish at the section meet.
“I think that’s do-able,” said Aikens of those goals.
