Asthma doesn’t sink prep swim standout Yang

Jay Yang’s foray into the pool could not have started much worse.

Nearly 10 years ago, with Yang recovering from a tonsillectomy, his parents started looking for a sport that would help to expand their asthma-stricken son’s small lungs. Swimming seemed like the perfect activity, and they signed up Yang at Desert Breeze Aquatic Center.

There was just one problem. Yang couldn’t do much more than dog paddle.

“The coach kicked me out of the group because he was like, ‘I’m afraid you’re going to drown,’ ” Yang recalled. “So my mom and I trained for about half a year to get my body built up for swimming so I wouldn’t be drowning. Six months after that, right before I turned 8, I joined the swim team and went to my first meet.

“And I never got kicked out again.”

Yang, a junior for the Spring Valley boys swimming and diving team, has developed into one of the top swimmers in the area and will try for his first region title when the finals of the Sunset meet take place Saturday at UNLV’s Buchanan Natatorium.

The Sunrise and Division I-A Southern Region finals also are Saturday. The top two finishers in each event automatically qualify for the Division I state meet May 24 at Buchanan Natatorium. The third-place finisher with the best time between the Sunrise and Sunset regions also advances to state, while the top four finishers in Division I-A qualify.

“We are a smaller school and a smaller (boys) team, and it does bring something to the school to have Jay represent us in this meet,” Spring Valley coach Jean Rees said. “Jay is an excellent role model for the team. … He’s got sights bigger than high school. He’s just driven.”

Yang attends Advanced Technologies Academy, a Clark County School District magnet school, but is zoned for Spring Valley, allowing him to swim for the Grizzlies. He also competes for the Sandpipers of Nevada, and his experience with the club program affords him the opportunity to serve as a mentor for many of his Spring Valley teammates.

“The kids really look up to him because he’s just very humble,” Rees said.

As a freshman, Yang finished third in the Sunset Region in the 200-yard individual medley and was fourth in the 100 breaststroke. Last season, he took third in the 100 butterfly and was second in the 200 IM, which qualified him for the state meet for the first time. Yang went on to finish fourth in the IM at state.

This year, he will attempt to become one of the few competitors to break Palo Verde’s stranglehold on the Sunset Region boys meet. The Panthers have won 13 straight team titles and took first in 10 of the 11 events in 2013.

Yang posted the top time in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.23) during Tuesday’s qualifying, just ahead of Palo Verde teammates Bryce Rogers (1:02.57) and defending champion Thomas Finley (1:03.60). Yang is the No. 2 seed in the 100 butterfly (54.33) behind Johnny Williams of Palo Verde, who went 53.41 in the prelims.

“I just want to represent Spring Valley on the big stage, hopefully at state, and represent in the best way that I can, which in this case is swimming fast,” Yang said. “I just want to instill that sense of pride for Spring Valley.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.