Former N.C. State swimming standout Cullen Jones won the 50-yard freestyle national championship in 2006 under coach Brooks Teal. Now, Jones will have Teal as an assistant coach for the United States national team when he competes in the world championships in March in Melbourne, Australia.
Teal initially found out in November he would be an assistant for the team, but the news of the decision became official approximately two weeks ago.
“It’s an awesome opportunity anytime you get to represent the United States of America in an international competition, much less one as big as the world championships. It’s just a great honor,” Teal said. “And obviously, it’ll be exciting [and] fun to get to be with Cullen and get to be there and coach him and just be a part of that whole scene.”
Before Teal can serve as an assistant for the United States team, he will be working with redshirt sophomore Stephen Mellor, who is hoping to qualify for NCAA Championships — a decision that will be made by next Thursday, according to Teal.
Mellor scored a ‘B’ Cut time, a time that qualifies him for consideration to be in the NCAA Championships, at ACC Championships this past weekend in Chapel Hill in the 200-yard individual medley, the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke.
Teal said Monday, Mellor will probably qualify for the national championships to be held March 15 – 17 in Minneapolis, Minn., with his time in the 400-yard individual medley, allowing him to also compete in the other two events at the NCAA Championship meet.
Teal said he and Mellor will leave March 13, the day he would otherwise be leaving for Australia, for Minnesota if Mellor qualifies.
“I’m staying behind because of my commitment to Steve and our NCAA plans,” Teal said.
After the NCAA championships, Teal will leave March 18 to fly to Australia to join the U.S. team. While not going into much detail, Teal said the position “could be a steppingstone” for being an assistant for the Olympics in 2008.
It’s a possibility he said he would definitely welcome.
“It’d be a dream come true,” Teal said. “That [would] be awesome.”
