St Lucian swimmers had massive representation at the 22nd Annual Aquatic Centre International hosted by the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association in Bridgetown last weekend. With a record 85 swimmers from six local clubs, this was easily the most swimmers pooled for an overseas meet. The swimmers set 12 new Age Group Records and garnered 30 overall medals.
Ethan Dyke Elliot of Sea Jays Swim Club continued his great run of record breaking performances and highlighted his “OECS showdown” between himself and Leyton Martin of Antigua’s Wadadli Aquatics in the sprint freestyle, back and fly events. Dyke Elliot set seven of the 12 St Lucian Age Group Records, winning two silver and three bronze medals.
The records being: Female 9-10 50 Back, Katie Kyle (Sharks) with time of 39.99; Male 8 & Under 100 Breast, D’Andre Blanchard with time of 1:54.21, LA; Male 9-10 50 Free, Ethan Dyke-Elliott (Sea Jays) 31.50; Male 9-10 100 Free, Ethan Dyke-Elliott, 1:08.61; Male 9-10 200 Free, Dyke-Elliott, 2:32.94; Male 9-10 400 Free, Jamarr Archibald (Sea Jays) 5:38.40; Male 9-10 50 Back, Dyke-Elliott (Sea Jays) 37.53; Male 9-10 50 Fly, Dyke-Elliott, 34.41; Male 9-10 100 Fly, Dyke-Elliott 1:20.15; Male 9-10 200 IM, Dyke-Elliott, 2:55.13; Male 15-17 200 Breast, Stefon Emmanuel (SFF) 2:50.20; Male 18 & Over 100 Breast, Bradford Worrell (Racers),1:11.67.
Jammaar Archibald set an age group record of his own in the 400 Free, showing outstanding improvement over the past year and a testament to his commitment to the sport for the last nine months.
Stefon Emmanuel (SFF) and Omar John (Storm Aquatics) had another OECS battle down to the wire in the 200 Breast. Emmanuel getting the best of John and establishing a new Age Group Record and a silver medal. Katie Kyle in her first ever Long Course Swim established an Age Group record in the Girls 9-10 50 Back.
Jenna Lee Campbell of Lightning Aquatics carried away the gold in the girls Eight and under 50m Breast. Thalia Bergasse had a great comeback meet and started it off with a second place finish in her signature event the 50M Back. She was the top finisher in her age group 15-17, however this meet was swam as 15 and over. Bergasse won a silver and one bronze medal while Jyasi Daniel qualified for CCCAN by establishing two “AAA” times in the 50 & 100 Freestyle. Leaving his fate down to his final swim, Daniel established his 50 Free “AAA” time in his last swim of the meet by leading off the 200 Freestyle relay in a time of 27.56. He captured a bronze medal.
Bradford Worrell was St Lucia’s only age group winner at the meet with a truly impressive performance. His best swim was in the 200M IM during the first session as he established a Personal Best Time and overall captured two gold, two silver and a bronze medal.
Jamie Peterkin also won a bronze medal in the 200 IM.
Cobra Swim Club participated in their first ever Long Course Meet. Despite only scoring a single point, recognition must be given to coach Vanessa Eugene for her efforts as a coach and swimmer, to motivate the young men and women to use swimming as a positive avenue to transform their outlook on life.
Apart from the individual performances, the clubs had relay successes with Lightning Aquatics winning one silver and four bronze, Sharks winning five bronze and Racers capturing two bronze medals.
The six local clubs were Sharks Swim Club, Sea Jays Swim Club, Racers Swim Club, Cobras Swim Club, Lightning Aquatics and Southern Flying Fish. Twenty clubs with over 350 swimmers from the Caribbean participated in the meet.
Following in order of finish are the final point standings: Alpha Sharks Swim Club (Barbados)1387, Pirates Swim Club (Barbados) 1030.5, Grenfin Swim Club (Grenada) 477.5, Antigua Aquatic Club 431.5, Titans Aquatic Swim Team (Barbados) 407.5, Wadadli Aquatic Racers, 349.5, Sharks Swim Club (St Lucia) 156, Racers Swim Club (St Lucia) 156, Lightning Aquatics Swim Club (St Lucia) 110, Sea Jays Swim Club (St Lucia) 102, Guyana Combined Teams 56, Black Sands Swim Squad, 54.5, Petrotrin Barracudas, (Trinidad & Tobago) 53, Heatwave Aquatics (Barbados) 51, Silver Fins Swim Club (Barbados) 50, High Tide Stingrays Swim Club, 50, Southern Flying Fish (St Lucia) 43, Dolphins Swim Club, (Barbados) 33, Blue Marlins 28, Cobra Adventures Swim Club (St Lucia) 1.
The St Lucian swimmers from all teams were in high spirits for the well organized and well attended meet, with our top swimmers now in preparation for Central American and Caribbean Championships in Costa Rica in July.
