A twelve–member National Swimming Team will depart this Wednesday, 27th March to compete in the thirty-seventh CARIFTA Swimming Championships, which will be held this year at the Betty Kelly- Kenning Aquatic Centre in Nassau, The Bahamas. The team which comprises 8 females and 4 males, range from the age categories of 11 years to 20 years.
The team will be accompanied by Coach Gerson Escobar, Team manager, Neil Francis, and Chaperones Nigel Gresham and Ruth Collymore.
This year being an olympic year, the competition will be accommodating athletes eighteen years and over for those who wish to use the meet as an opportunity for Olympic qualification. Such athletes however, will not be earning points towards their teams, but are likely to gain medals.
The following are the team members and the events in which each will compete:
Females:
Anaika Otway- 50 Backstroke, 50 &100 Breaststroke and 50& 100 Freestyle
Gabrielle Hyson- 100 & 50 Butterfly and 100& 50 Freestyle
Sara Dowden- 50, 100 & 200 Butterfly, 200 &400 IM and 400 Freestyle
Tilly Collymore-50, 100, 200, 400 & 800 Freestyle, 50 &100 Butterfly and 5k Open Water
Zeia Ollivierre – 50, 100 & 200 Breaststroke, 50 & 100 Freestyle , 50 Butterfly and 50 Backstroke
Kristin Gresham – 50, 100 & 200 Breaststroke, 50 and 100 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly and 50 Backstroke
Eliza Rose Benjamin -50, 100 & 200 Freestyle, 50 & 100 Butterfly, 200 IM and 50 Backstroke
Nataly Escobar – 50, 100 & 200 Backstroke, 50 & 100 Freestyle and 200 IM
Males:
Jenebi Benoit – 50 & 100 Butterfly and 50 & 100 Freestyle
Zackary Gresham -50 &100 Backstroke, 50 &100 Butterfly, 50 &100 Breaststroke, and 50 &100 Freestyle
Jacob Collymore – 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 & 1500 Freestyle, 50, 100 & 200 Butterfly and 200 IM
Jaaziel Francis -50,100 & 200 Backstroke, 50 &100 Butterfly, 50 & 100 freestyle and 50 breaststroke
Both Tilly and her brother, Jacob, will also compete in the Open Water competition scheduled for April 3rd.
This year’s CARIFTA team welcomes just two first timers, Nataly Escobar and Eliza Rose Benjamin. The athletes have been having on-going training sessions which have lead to their CARIFTA qualification and they have been training rigorously, since then in preparation for the upcoming championships.
GASA extends its usual best wishes to the team.
