Darden splashes his way to four medals

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 28, 2014 1:48 PM

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Barely rejuvenated from a demanding high school season, Zach Darden is back in the pool.

And he's making a splash again -- this time with the Eastern Carolina Aquatics competition team. Darden returned home with four medals and helped the squad capture the overall team title in the prestigious NCS Senior State Championship meet contested in Cary.

A junior at Wayne School of Engineering, Darden helped lead ECA to the gold medal in the 800-yard freestyle relay. He earned silver medals with the 400 free and 400 medley relays, and captured third in the 100 butterfly with a time of 51.09 seconds.

Darden also competed in the 50 and 100 free.

"Zach is an ultra-committed athlete who drives almost two hours every day to challenge himself against some of the best swimmers in the country," ECA head coach Casey Charles said. "He has benefited from his teammates and they have benefited from him. I am excited to accompany Zach through his senior year next year as he pursues options for swimming in college."

Until then, Darden is headed to the Zone Sectional Meet in March and has also qualified for the NCSA Junior Nationals in Indianapolis this summer. The Zone meet features some of the nation's elite travel squads and the practice teams for Olympians Cullen Jones, Ryan Lochte, Lauren Perdue and Todd Torres.