The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Barracuda Swim Club captured the Sea Waves Aquatic Swim Meet held at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex over the weekend.

The Barracudas collected 1,786 points to dominate the two-day event, while their nearest competitors, Team Orca, got second with 291 points. Swift Swimming came in third with 282 points, host Sea Waves were fourth with 151 and Alpha Aquatics rounded out the top five with 104.

Winning the overall individual high points were the following:

8 and under girls - Anjaleah Knowles - Sea Waves Aquatic Team - 52 points and Taliyah Bowe - Sea Waves Aquatic Team - 29 points.

8 and under boys - Caden Wells Swift Swimming - 42 points and Kyle Albury - Barracuda Swim Club - 26 points.

9-10 girls - Devin Cuffy-Bethel - Barracuda Swim Club - 44 points and tied were Marissa Albury - Swift Swimming and Grace Farrington - Barracuda Swim Club - 22 points each.

9-10 boys - Hodari Prince- Barracuda Swim Club - 43 points and Amauri Bonamy - Barracuda Swim Club - 41 points.

11-12 girls - Salene Gibson - Barracuda Swim Club - 43 points and tie - Mandia Roberts - Barracuda Swim Club, Teja Munnings - Barracuda Swim Club and Rachel Lundy - Barracuda Swim Club - 36 points each.

11-12 boys - Hugh Bartlett - Barracuda Swim Club - 50 points and Reis Knowles - Barracuda Swim Club - 41 points.

13-14 girls - Anya Mc Phail - Barracuda Swim Club and Amber Pinder - Barracuda Swim Club - 43 points tie.

13- 14 boys - Mark Darling - Barracuda Swim Club - 41 points and Trent Albury - Swift Swimming - 39 points.

15 & over girls - Sian Longley - Barracuda Swim Club - 45 points and Kaitlyn Slatter - Barracuda Swim Club - 38 points.

15 & over boys - Tenajh Gaitor - Barracuda Swim Club - 41 points and Kyle Albury - Barracuda Swim Club - 26 points.

Sea Waves’ head coach Shirley Mireault said the meet was a very good one with all of the equipment working and they had sufficient officials on hand, thanks to the assistance from students from CC Sweeting School, who did some community work as a part of their physical education requirements for graduation.

“The performances were good with a lot of personal bests,” Mireault said. “The weather was great both days, not cold Friday and not too hot Saturday. No rain either during meet.”

Mireault noted that her Sea Waves experienced some problems with the pumps at the South Beach pool where they trained. She noted that they were just recently replaced after almost a year without any at the pools, which resulted in a fall off by some of their members.

“Our Learn to Swim students are starting to return now the weather is warmer as the heater at our practice facility is not turned on,” she said. “Sea Waves Aquatic Team was 10 years old this January. We have had a constant challenge with the pool water condition so have not grown as a club like we should number-wise as parents stop bringing their kids if we cannot depend on clean water to swim in from one day to the next. Hopefully this new pump will help that situation.

“We have five and six year olds now competing and they have several years in the youngest age group so are our future. We have two eight and under girls, Taliyah Bowe and Anjaleah Knowles both ranked as the top two in Nassau and top four overall in the Bahamas. They are focusing on National team qualification for Carifta in three years time and are focusing on reaching those times.”

Last year, Mireault said they had three swimmers on the Goodwill Games team, which traveled to Trinidad & Tobago last year as she served as the team coach. She noted that she anticipate that the Sea Waves will have a few more on the team this year when it is announced next week. The team will be traveling to St Lucia, August 12-14.

“This team is not a federation funded team although it is a national team in all other respects, so parents need to agree to assist with funding,” Mireault said. “Also, some older swimmers are going back to school in the USA when that competition takes place so will not be available to compete. The other countries competing at this meet told me last year that their parents also fund this particular meet.

“The good thing is that it gives the younger team members a taste of international competition before they are old enough for Carifta, and the swimmers up to 17 years old who were not selected for Carifta, another opportunity to represent their country internationally. They also must present a cultural item for each other so see what the other countries do. They make friends and find what is similar and what is a bit different among their Caribbean neighbors.”

Mireault said she was happy with the overall results of the meet. She noted that the Barracudas brought 86 swimmers, but there some others with large numbers of registered swimmers and they brought very few. Their next club meet is May 6-7 and will be one of the last few qualifiers before Nationals in June.