[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ineteen swimmers represented team St Lucia, at the Barbados Aquatic Centre at the Goodwill Championship from August 17-19. As a result of hard work and intense training, St Lucia Amateur Swimming Association Swimmers returned home with 23 medals.
The team competed against their peers from Jamaica, Barbados, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas and Grenada and placed on the board 285 points with three gold, twelve silver and eight bronze medals.
Swim highlights included Antione Destang placing second and Eden Crick and Mikaela Casimir tying for third in the individual points scored.
First place medalist taking the podium was Ziv Reynolds in 50 breast and Destang in 50 breast and 50 fly.
Second place medalists included Fayth Jeffery and Karic Charles in 50 breast, Crick in 50 free style and Casimir in 50 fly.
Third place finishers took their spot with Destang in 100 and 200 free Style, Crick 100 back, Charles 100 breast and Shalini Joseph in 50 back.
A total of nine Age Group Records were broken. Record breakers included Fayth Jeffery in the eight and under in the 100 freestyle and 100 meter IM; Destang broke six of the nine records in nine to 10 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 50 back, 50 fly and 100 fly; Tristan Dorville joined the record breaking pack with setting a nine to 10 age group record in the 200 IM.
Head Coach David Peterkin, assisted by Coach Henry Joseph was pleased with the general performance of the team, as the swimmers made the transition to another level in competitive swimming.
Peterkin also noted what pleased him most was that 71percent of best times was gained by the team. A definite improvement from 2017 bringing in 21 medals, with an improvement of 52%.
The team manager Cheryl Dorville who was ably assisted by chaperones Nickler Velinor-Paul and Lisa Pultie voiced their delight in working with the swimmers.
As customary at the closing ceremony to mark the end of the meet, invited guests saw talents beyond swimming being performed by the swimmers at the cultural presentation.
The Swimming Association thanked the following sponsors for their contributions: National Lotteries Authority in particular has been instrumental in their continuous contributions to swimming over the years. The association also thanked Massy Distributions, Spice of India, Bay Gardens Resorts, Coco Palm, Dominos, The Landings Resort and Spa, Windward and Leeward Brewery, Blue Waters, Fancy Foods, Ecowares, Adrian Augier and KFC.
