The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

A 36-member team, made up of novice and seasoned swimmers, will make the trip to Kingston, Jamaica, on Thursday to defend the Bahamas' title at the 2018 CARIFTA Swimming Championships.

Following a practice session yesterday and before they paid a courtesy call on Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling, some of the swimmers expressed their delight in making the trip to represent the island nation.

"Everybody is working hard towards the CARIFTA Games," said 11-year-old Tristin Ferguson of Queen's College, who is making his CARIFTA debut in the 11-12 age group. "I'm looking forward to making finals and do what I'm supposed to do. I'm really looking forward to competing in the 200m breast and the 100m breast and the 200m freestyle. I think it's going to be exciting for me to go to Jamaica."

Amauri Bonamy, another first timer in the 11-12 age group from Summit Academy, said his goals for the games are simply to make the finals and hopefully medal.

"I just want to be able to compete to the best of my ability," said the 12-year-old. "I have to compete in the 100m back, 200m back and 100m breast. Those are my best events."

Davante Carey, 15, is one of the veterans on the team and he's hoping that he can lead by example in the 15-17 age group. "The focus for me at this CARIFTA is to win medals in all of my events and to make the rookies feel right at home, giving them advice on how to cope at the games," said Carey, a student of Queen's College.

"I mainly want to talk to them about what we should be doing as a team and encourage them. It's good that we have so many young members on the team, we have some people who have been there before to motivate them."

Luke-Kennedy Thompson, back for his second appearance after competing in his initial games in 2014, said it's an honour for him to compete again as he contests the 15-17 age group.

"I've been working extremely hard, training very hard because I really want to go away and represent our country very well," said the 16-year-old student of St Andrew's School.

"I'm looking forward to competing in the 1,500m free, which is one of my best events. I want to see how well I do because I've been switching up my training a bit. I want to get some medals for the Bahamas."

Thompson, however, pointed out that they have a very good team, although there are a lot of first time competitors, so it will be interesting to see how well they can defend the title. Lamar Taylor, a 14-year-old Bishop Michael Eldon student out of Grand Bahama, is making his fourth team, but he said the objective is still the same, and that is to win.

"I'm really looking forward to competing in the 50m free, which is my best event," he insisted. "But I am looking forward to seeing how well we compete as a team. We have a really good team, so we should do very well."

Mark-Anthony Thompson, who joins his brother Luke-Anthony and sister Zayle-Elizabeth Thompson on the team, will be making his debut as he compete in the open water swim.

"I'm really excited and I'm also nervous, but I want to do very well," said the 15-year-old St Andrew's student. "I'm looking forward to experiencing Carifta for the first time and just to go out and have some fun.

"As a first timer, I feel pretty good about the environment that we have here in training, so I know it will be more intense when we go to Jamaica. I just want to do my best."

Jamilah Hepburn, 14, will be entered in the girls 13-14 division. The Windsor Prep at Albany student, will be making her third appearance and she has some lofty goals.

"I want to bring home some medals because I've never won any before," she insisted. "I really want to medal in the 50m breast. I've been training for a long time and I think I'm ready for it.

"We have a great team and so I think we will do very well. For those competitors who will be competing for the first time, if they don't win a medal, they should not let it get them down. They can always work on next year."

Erald Thompson III, 13, will be competing in the boys 13-14 division as he return for his second appearance.

"I want to go for a medal in the 100m breaststroke," he stressed. "I think with the help of my team-mates, I'm looking forward to having some fun in Jamaica and putting on a show for the country."

For Devin Cuffy-Bethel, 12, this will be her debut, but she's not going to let the trappings get the best of her performance.

"I am looking forward to competing," said Cuffy-Bethel, a student of Queen's College. "I am happy to to represent the country and I hope that I can go out there and perform very well."

And Grace Farrington, a 12-year-old student of Queen's College, is also making her debut.

"I am excited to be able to represent the country," Farrington stressed. "I think we have a very good team and I'm just happy to be a part of it. I know that I can compete to the best of my ability. I want to medal because I am ranked in my event."

The team will be managed by Georgette Albury and coached by Travano McPhee, Jorge Rodriguez and Andy Loveitt.