Bid For a 4-Peat Underway
After two years of not seeing competition at the CARIFTA Swimming Championship, the Bahamas was back in the pool this morning in the preliminaries.
Swimming in front of a large contingent of Bahamian supporters at the Barbados Aquatic Center, Bahamian swimmers ensured a place in the finals tonight as they look to defend their title.
Tia-Isabella Adderley won her heat in the 13-14 girls 200 meters (m) breaststroke with a time of 2:54.55. With that time, Adderley heads into the finals tonight with the second fastest time. Also making the final in that event is Erin Pritchard with the eighth fastest time of 3:07.06.
The breast is one of the strongest strokes for The Bahamas as they have another two swimmers in the 15-17 boys 200m breast. Emmanuel Gadson has the second fastest qualifying time of 2:27.57 while Erald Thompson III has the fourth fastest time of 2:34.45.
Assistant head coach, Andy Loveitt, was happy with the first session’s performance.
“We had a good first session. We are always looking to get two people back in the finals,” Loveitt said.
Out of a possible 12 swimmers for the back finals, The Bahamas got 11 swimmers. The breast finals will see 10 swimmers and the fly finals will have 11 swimmers.
Dijon Simmons and David Singh both advanced to the finals in the 11-12 boys 50m backstroke. Simmons went ahead and clocked 33.12 seconds for the fourth fastest time. Singh swam 33.64 seconds for the sixth fastest time.
The Bahamian duo advanced to the final in the 100m butterfly. Simmons has the fourth fastest time of 1:09.50 and Singh has the seventh fastest time of 1:13.06.
The 15-17 girls 50m back will see two Bahamian swimmers in it as Keianna Moss clocked 31.54 seconds for the fifth fastest time as Kyana’s Higgs’ 32.47 seconds was enough for the eighth and final spot.
Nigel Forbes and Marvin Johnson also made the finals in the 15-17 boys 50m back. Forbes has the second fastest heat time of 27.31 seconds while Johnson posted 27.77 seconds for the fourth fastest time.
The Grand Bahama sprinters will also be featured in the final of the 100m fly with Forbes having the third fastest qualifying time of 57.05 seconds. Johnson has the sixth-fastest time of 58.19 seconds.
Saleste Gibson and Lelah Lewis enters the finals with the third and fourth best time respectively in the 11-12 girls 100m fly. Gibson swam 1:11.97 while Lewis posted 1:12.05.
The 13-14 boys duo of Asher Johnson and Caleb Ferguson did enough to book two spots in the finals of the 100m fly. Johson has the seventh best time of 1:01.88 while Ferguson’s time of 1:02.20 earned him the eighth-fastest time.
Moss and Rachel Lundy qualified for the finals in the 15-17 girls 100m fly. Moss battled her way for the fourth spot as she swam 1:06.27. Lundy swam 1:08.16 to qualify with the seventh fastest time.
The opening ceremony is set for 5.30 p.m. and competition gets underway at 6 p.m.
