The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Algernon Cargill, president of the Bahamas Swimming Federation, said he was just as proud of the performance of the CARIFTA silver medal water polo under-16 team as he was of the gold medal swimming team.

Yesterday, the water polo team returned home from Willemstad, Curacao, just in time to receive their cellphones from BTC at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex. BTC was just about to wrap up its presentation to the 36-member swim team for their historic gold medal in Aruba when the water polo team returned from Curacao with their silver medal.

The team, coached by Laszlo Borbely, lost 17-2 to Trinidad & Tobago in the gold medal game on Sunday.

“I was happy for them because they fought hard,” Cargill said. “They are entirely funded by the federation and parents with very little support from corporate Bahamas. So our focus is to ensure that the water polo team remains intact.”

Team captain Sterling Lewis said they went to Curacao and they did their best. “I think we did a good job,” Lewis said. “We always want to strive for higher, so our goal next year is to get the gold and make our coach proud because he has been working very hard with us all year.”

Lewis, a 15-year-old student at CR Walker, said it was good to come home to receive the phones because it showed that “someone cared about what we did. We are happy that they are willing to recognise us. Hopefully they will encourage more guys to come out and participate on the team.”

The team was led by Saequan Miller, who was the top goal scorer with a total of 21. Miller scored six goals in their opener against Curacao and he had five each in the other matches, with the exception of the gold medal game after he got ejected.

“The pressure was on us in the final, but the first three games, we played very good,” Miller said. “In the final, we lost three of our good players, including myself, Aaron Carey and Joel Albury. We all got fouled out and sent from the pool and we had to end up playing with our reserves.”

Miller, a 14-year-old student of HO Nash, said he got ejected after he got into a scuffle with a player from Trinidad & Tobago. Miller said the player tried to wrestle with him under the water and he got mad, so when they came up for air, he decided to retaliate. Albury was ejected for his unsportsmanlike conduct against the referee and Carey had three fouls. “If we were still in the game, I know we would have won the gold medal,” Miller said.

As for the team’s performance, Miller said they made a remarkable turnaround from last year. And if their improvement was any indication, he said he’s confident that they can prevail as champions next year.

Members of the team were Joel Albury, Sterling Lewis, Aaron Carey, Kadyn Coakley, Drenaud Moncur, Saequan Miller, Seth Rollins, Marcel Ingraham, Loron Bain and Brian Wynter.