At the conclusion of Day 3 of the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) Long Course National Championships at the Wildey Aquatic Centre yesterday, one national age group record had fallen and the CARIFTA qualifying standard had been met by several swimmers.
Day 1 of the competition showcased the older swimmers competing in the longest race in the pool, the 1500m freestyle. It was a clean sweep for Pirates Swim Club with Kathryn Ford earning the first gold in the 13-14 female age group in a time of 19:15:38. In the 15-17 age group, Danielle Treasure secured gold in 18:39:08. In boys’ competition, Christopher Pollard and Diego Dulieu took the gold (17:44:90) and silver (17:56:06) and in so doing also went below the CARIFTA qualifying standard of 18:02:01 in the 13-14 age group. Rounding out the medals for Pirates was Niel Skinner in the 15-17 age group whose time of 18:33:88 earned him the top place on the podium.
Kathryn Ford posted two CARIFTA qualifying times for the girls 13-14 Division.
Christopher Pollard has won three gold medals.
Rylan Marville of the High Tide Stingrays swam to victory in the opening event of Day 2. Marville’s time of 1:23:56 in the 100m Butterfly secured her the gold medal with silver and bronze going to Pirates’ teammates Fayth Jeffrey and Jaiya Simmons, while in the boys’ 9-10 event it was Matthew Dacosta Hinds also of Pirates who owned the gold (1:20:78) with silver going to Brennan Watson (Pirates) and the bronze to Jun Mikami of Alpha Sharks. Day 2 would close with the 800m Freestyle and it was Alicia Bristol of Dolphins Swim Club who earned gold in the 11-12 girls distance in 11:54:34. Following on from her gold medal finish the previous night, Ford stopped the clock at 9:55:31 ahead of teammate Amelie Baker (10:02:96) with Adara Stoddard of High Tide finishing in third (10:13:80). In the girls 15-17 age group, Pirates’ Treasure and Clarke finished in gold and silver positions respectively with the bronze going to Hinds. For the boys’ 11-12 age group Lavine of the Titans Aquatic took the gold in 11:52:64 just ahead of High Tide’s Zachary Best (11:52:84) while bronze went to Donovan Ashby of Dolphins. Dulieu of Pirates’ secured gold in the 13-14 age group while Jeremy Kinch of Dolphins did the honours in the 15-17 age group. Earlier in the evening prior to the start of the evening’s scheduled events, a series of timed trials took place and Keilani Talma and Jake Chee-a-Tow of Pirates’ both went under the CARIFTA qualifying mark in the 200m Butterfly while Christopher Pollard posted a time of 2:22:50 in the 200m backstroke which was under the CARIFTA mark set of 2:23:98.
Matthew Dacosta-Hinds has captured three gold medals so far in the 9-10 age group.
Day 3 of the competition saw the younger swimmers taking to the blocks. In the 50m Butterfly, Amara Kirton swimming unattached earned gold in the 8 & under event with silver going to Keona Sullivan, also swimming unattached. In the boys’ 8 & under, Nikolai Sisnett of Pirates was victorious and his time of 35:12 erased the previous record of 35:18 held by Damon St. Prix from 2009. In the 9-10 girls, High Tide teammates Ayobami Leon-Barker and Marville swam away with gold and silver while bronze went to Pirates’ Heidi Stoute. Repeating their performances from the previous nights’ 100m butterfly, Hinds, Watson and Mikami took the top 3 spots in the 50m butterfly. In the 11-12 age group, it was the longer distance of 100m butterfly that was contested with gold going to Abigail Deshong (St.Vincent), silver to Noemie Lamontagne (Pirates) and bronze to Makayla Clarke (Alpha). Che Talma of Pirates secured gold in the boys 11-12 age group in a time of 1:14:33 with silver going to Lavine (Titans) and bronze to Khaleb Gaskin (Alpha).
In the 9-10 girls 200m freestyle, Leon-Barker earned a second gold (2:41:54) with silver and bronze going to Stoute (2:41:83) and Marville (2:43:24). It would be a clean sweep of the medals for Pirates’ teammates Dacosta Hinds, Cain Banfield and Luke McIntyre in the boys 9-10 division. In the 11-12 girls, Kenyah Deane of Pirates earned gold ahead of Toni Walrond (High Tide) and Rebecca Weekes (Pirates). Ford would secure her fourth gold medal of the meet in just three days winning the gold in the 13-14 age group ahead of Mya Defreitas (St. Vincent) and  Talma. It would be a duo of Danielles who took top spots in the 15-17 age group with Danielle Titus earning gold ahead of Danielle Clarke who earned silver while Hinds finished in third place.
Julimar Avila of Honduras secured the gold in the 18-24 age group. In the boys 11-12 age group, Ethan Roachford of High Tide finished in gold medal position with silver going to Charlie Williams (Pirates) and bronze to Gaskin (Alpha). The 13-14 boys category was headed up by Pollard (2:06:66) and he was chased to the wall by Omari Sealy (2:13:08) and Zachary Taylor (2:13:13). Nkosi Dunwoody, set to head up the Barbados CARIFTA team, stopped the clock at 2:05:06 to win the boys 15-17 title with Skinner and Aaron Defreitas (St. Vincent) finishing in silver and bronze positions. Jumar Walrond would be victorious in the 18-24 age group.
Action will continue through the weekend ending with the fastest race in the water, the 50m freestyle on Sunday evening.
