Last year’s victory was so nice, St Cyprian’s Boys had to do it twice, retaining their title as kings of the 2017 Purity Primary Interschool Swimming Champions at the Barbados Aquatic Centre.
It took a total of 138 points for the boys from Brittons Hill to secure victory over their closest challengers St Angela’s who amassed 115 points to take the second position while People’s Cathedral had to settle for third spot with 88 points.
Ten-year-old Jayden Lavine of Eagle Hall Primary was the name on the tip of everyone’s tongue as he emerged champion of the 9-10 division with a whopping 34 points ahead of Amani Millar of Providence Elementary who tallied 23.
Lavine started his rampage slightly behind after finishing second to Miller in the 25-metre backstroke in a time of 19.81 seconds
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However, Lavine made up in his mind that was the only race of the day he would lose and when the boys lined up to dive into the pool for the 25-metre butterfly, a time of 17.29 was enough to give him his first of three gold medals for the day. Jaden Johnson of Reynold Weekes and Chaddain Sandiford fought for the silver medal with only a second separating the two with Johnson touching the wall just before Sandiford.
Lavine, who is competing in his penultimate swim sports at the primary school level, definitely sent out his signal of intent on the divisional honours when he destroyed the field in the breaststroke with a time of 21.04. Joshua Ross who finished second had a time of 21.37 while Matthieu Clarke took the bronze medal in 21.51.
With just five races left in the day, Lavine who showed no fatigue was back in the pool for a final time.
If anyone thought his breaststroke display was a fluke, Lavine totally outclassed his opponents in his darling freestyle swim in a time of 32.88 seconds touching the wall a massive 44 seconds in front of Miller and Luther Thorne’s Aquan Crichlow who finished in 34.45.
The girls were much more competitive than the boys with a mere two points deciding who took home the championship and who had to settle for the runners-up position.
When all was said and done defending champions St Winifred’s had to surrender their supremacy to St Angela’s Primary who came second last year.
It was a two-horse race as St. Angela’s finished the day’s proceedings on 159 points while St Winifred’s Primary totalled 157 and both scores were more than twenty points ahead of third place People’s Cathedral.
Kenyah Deane of St Angela’s and Chelsie Deane who hails from St Bernard’s Primary were joint division champions scoring 34 points for their schools in the 9-10 and 11-12 age groups respectively.
Kenyah showed that she was the Deane of her division from the get-go when she took the 25-metre freestyle in 15.03 seconds in front of Heidi Baker of St Winifred and Melanie Walkes of Trinity.
Deane then went on to win the backstroke in 18.18 seconds and the breaststroke in 21.43 but had to settle for the silver medal in the freestyle just behind Baker who came back for sweet revenge in a time of 17.07 seconds.
Chelsie who is competing for the final time as at the primary school level ensured that her farewell was in grand style.
The only race for the day she didn’t win was the 11-12 girls 25-metre breaststroke when Tala Givacchini beat her in a time of 20.58 seconds, apart from that Chelsie won the backstroke, freestyle and butterfly.
The division champions are as follows: 6 and Under Girls – Nandi Abange 23 points, 6 and Under Boys – Aman Natali, 7-8 girls – Jaiya Simmons 31 points, 7-8 boys – Tariq Greenidge 29 points, 9-10 girls – Kenyah Deane 34 points, 9-10 boys – Jayden Lavine 34 points, 11-12 girls – Chelsie Deane 34 points and 11-12 boys Aquan Crichlow 31 points.
The 6 and under boys championship was shared with Matthew King of St. Cyprian’s
The 6 and under boys championship was shared with Matthew King of St. Cyprian’s