Stoute wins gold in open water competition

By Morissa Lindsay

From the swimming pool into the ocean, Barbadian swimmer Heidi Stoute has had a fantastic outing at the 2022 the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN), winning gold in the 12 to 13 three-kilometer open water competition.

The 13-year-old Stoute clocked 46:44.00 to win ahead of the field this past Saturday morning at Carlisle Bay where she stamped her authority to secure the top podium finish ahead of Alessandra Davila of Venezuela (47:06.06) and Regina Medina-Arcos (47:20.00) for third place.

A member of Pirates Swim Club, Stoute was the only Barbadian competitor to medal in the open water swim. She also took centre stage with a total of four individual medals during the pool competition held at the National Aquatic Centre, inclusive of two age group records and three relay titles.

Besides Stoute’s incredible performance, it was the Venezuelans, Mexicans and Puerto Rican that stole the show in the open water swim.

The Boys 12 to 13 Division of the three-kilometer race was a clean sweep by Venezuela compliments the victorious Yotis Serafin in 41:18.00, Mathias Jeppesen 41:27.00 and Ezequiel Morales 41:38.00. In the 14 to 17 age groups for the five-kilometer clash, Dayana Melendez of El Salvador captured gold in 1:10.48 and just seconds separated the next best finishers as Mariela Guadamuro of Puerto Rico (1:10.50) was second and Dayana Padilla of Venezuela (1:10.50) came third.

The boys 14 to 17 was not as competitive but once again the powerhouse countries in the competition stood out as Jose Castillo of Mexico stamped his authority in 1:01.44 while Jamarr Bruno of Mexico trailed home in 1:02.34 for second and Santiago Bello of Venezuela followed home closely in 1:02.37 to round out the top three.

It was also a keenly contested battle as well in the 18 and Over Division for the five kilometres races and in the female’s
category Beatriz Portillo of El Salvador won in 1:08.25 while it was a race to the finish between Itzel Quiles of Puerto Rico
(1:09.15) and Yanci Vanegas of Guatemala (1:09.15).

Just a split second separated first from second in the boys as Daniel Juarez of Venezuela clocked 1:01.42 and edged Diego Dulieu of Honduras (1:01.43) into second while David Marroquin of Guatemala registered 1:02.46 for bronze. Dulieu is a former Barbados representative.

In the 18 and Over ten kilometres which took place this morning, Britta Schwengle of Aruba won in 2:15.54 followed by Carolina Sevilla of Mexico in 2:16.28 and Sofia Pascuzzo of Venezuela in 2:16.29 as they fought hard to the finish.

Meanwhile, Venezuela captured gold and silver thanks to Diego Vera (2:00.08) and Daniel Juarez (2:00.13) while Rodolfo Falcon of Cuba (2:01.25) rounded out the top three places.

(ML)