The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DNDN McKenzie and Siann Isaacs turned in some of the top performances over the weekend as swimmers in Bahamas Aquatics nally returned to familiar territory for their local swim meets.

The swimmers got to make their first splash in a meet since the nine-month renovations to the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex for the hosting of the CARIFTA swim championships over the Easter holiday weekend.

McKenzie, a member of Mako Aquatics, posted a triple dose of victories in the girls’ 13-14 1,500m freestyle in 19 minutes and 52,43 seconds, the 800m free in 10:30.22 and the 400m free in 5:05.01.

The 13-year-old St Anne’s eighth grader said the meet provided a rare opportunity to test her skills in the long-distance events and she took advantage of it.

“I wanted to try out the distance events. I think I did good, so I might just try it in the nationals (in June),” said McKenzie, who attained the qualifying standard for the Bahamas Aquatics’ National Open Championships in June in both the 800 and 400m.

As for the 1,500m, she said she was just thrilled to complete the gruelling lap race.

“It was painful, but I pushed through it,” said McKenzie, who competed in the event for the first time.

“I thought to myself, ‘should I stop on the last lap,’ but I decided to just push through it. I went through the last lap and when I nished, I touched the wall. Thank God I made it.”

Isaacs, representing Alpha Aquatics, was victorious in the girls’ 13-14 100m free in 1:05.75 and was second in 1500 free in 19:54.57, 800m free in 10:34.09, 50 back in 35.61 and 400 free in 5:05.93, all behind McKenzie.

“I think I could have done better at CARIFTA, but overall my races in this meet went very well,” said Isaacs, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Windsor School. “I’m looking forward to continuing to improve on my performances the rest of the season.”

Both McKenzie and Isaacs were members of Team Bahamas, which won the CARIFTA title for the sixth consecutive year and were a part of the relay teams that earned medals to the overall tally.

There was limited participation from the local clubs as some of the swimmers went to Florida to compete in a meet there. But across the board, there were some other performances of note.

Alpha Aquatics’ Skyler Smith, going undefeated in the girls’ 11-12 with six victories and team-mate Kaalen Ferguson, in the boys’ 11-12, winning four of his six events and getting second place in the other two and Michael Fox in the boys’ 15-17 with three victories, a pair of second place and a fourth.

Barracuda’s Madison Gilbert in the girls’ 13-14 division, splitting her six events with three victories and as many second place

finishes; Kyana Higgs in the girls 15-17 division with three wins and a third place and Kieran Sealy with four victories, a second and a third in the boys’ 125-17 division.

Black Marlins’ Fraser Menzies in the boys 9-10 division with three victories and as many second places; Lyall Menzies in the boys 9-10 as well with four wins, a second and a third and Alanna Murray with a victory and five second places in the girls 15-17 division.

Blue Waves’ Zeni Dorsett with a first, second and third in the girls 8-and- under and Dylan Musgrove in the boys 9-10 with a pair of victories and a third place.

Lyford Cay Club was led by Katie Goulandris in the girls 15-17 division with two first, a second and a fourth place; Jaylah Threadgill in the girls 13-14 with two victories, three thirds and a fifth place.

Mako Aquatics’ Isabella Munrow with four victories in the girls 9-10 division; Skyrah Chambers in the girls 8-and-under with four wins and a second place finish; Hannah Astwood had three victories, a second and two third places in the girls 9-19; Nai’a Belton in the girls 11-12 with three victories and two second place finishes; Kyrie Smith with five victories and a second place in the boys 8-and under and Damari Butler in the boys 13-14 division with four first and two second place finishes.

Mantas Swim & Water Polo Club was led by Asher Bastian with a pair of second place and a fourth place finish in the boys 9-10 division, while Caylen Brown had a first, third and seventh in the boys 13-14 division.

And the Sea Waves’ highest performance came from Tristan Johnson in the boys 13-14 division with a third, seventh, eighth, 10th and two 12 places.

Latahara Forbes, one of the assistant coaches for Alpha, said she felt their swimmers performed very well. “We had a lot of best times, about 87 percent best times, so in the middle of hard training, I think they performed outstanding,” Forbes said. “We were extremely excited and the kids were excited to get back into this brand new state-of-the-art facility.

“So we were very excited, very happy to be back in the 50m pool. It can only get better from here because we are now training again in the big pool, so it’s going to be very exciting the rest of the season.”

Mako’s coach Travano McPhee, who served as the head coach for Team Bahamas as they completed the unprecedented sixth straight championship victory at CARIFTA, concurred with Forbes.

“I know we focused a lot on our top swimmers, especially at CARIFTA, but it was good to see the younger swimmers get back in the 50m pool,” McPhee said.

“I think the 8-and under and 9-and-under and those older ones who didn’t get to swim at CARIFTA really enjoyed competing in the meet. We still have some more meets to go this year, so they will only get to improve their performances and hopefully some of them will get to qualify for the Goodwill Games and the Nationals.”

Up next on the calendar will be the Blue Waves Swim Meet, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex. Three meets will be held in May and then the season will close out with the Nationals June 20-23.