The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the completion of the Aliv National Championships over the weekend at the Betty Kelly Kenning Aquatic Centre, the Bahamas Swimming Federation is preparing for their swimmers to compete in four international meets.

• On Thursday, the first team will depart the country when a 23-member team will travel to Bridgetown, Barbados for the XXXII CCCAN, scheduled for June 28 to July 2.

Named to the team are the following:

Females - Kaliyah G. Albury (16); Celia Campbell (18); Devin Cuffy Bethel (13); Rhanishka Gibbs (12); Jamilah Hepburn (15); Rachel Lundy (14); Delaney Mizell (14); Keianna Moss (13); Giann Sands (12) and Ariel Weech (27).

Males - Bonamy, Amauri E. Bonamy (12); Davante Carey (16); Tristin Hanna (12); Nigel Forbes (13); Gershwin Greene (20); Marvin Johnson (12); Kohen Kerr (22); Peter Morley (17); Ian Pinder (16); William Russell (18); Kierro Stubbs (15); Lamar Taylor (15) and Erald Thompson III (14). The team will be managed by Georgette Albury with Karen Johnson and Kendrick Albury as the female and male chaperones. Travano McPhee is the head coach, assisted by Sarah Knowles.

“It’s a smaller team this year, so we’re going over to achieve a lot of individual goals,” McPhee said. “Hopefully we can bring back a lot of medals. It’s not like the full CARIFTA team, so we just hope to get as much hardware as we can.

“We get a good young team and so we will try to get some of those records with swimmers like Nigel Forbes and Marvin Johnson. It’s a smaller team so we are looking forward to some great individual performances.”

• The FINA World LCM Swimming will take place in Gwangju, South Korea, July 21-28 and will comprise of a three-member team. They are Joanna Evans, Jared Fitzgerald and Izaak Bastian.

Now competing as a professional at her alma mater at the University of Texas, Evans said her goal is to get faster and move onto the world stage and hopefully qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

“I’ve been there for four years now so it’s like being at home,” the Grand Bahamian native pointed out. “I can’t complain. I’m enjoying it. They are taking care of me, but it’s good to be home.

“I’m just excited to get up and swim at Worlds. It’s been a while since I swam at a major event like that. I’m just excited to get up and race and see what I can do. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the world stage so I want to see what I can do.”

• The Pan American Games is scheduled for Lima, Peru with the swimming competition running from August 6-10. Named to that team are the following:

Females - Margaret Higgs, Lilly Higgs, Laura Morley and Ariel Weech.

Males - Davante Carey, N’Nhyn Fernander, Jared Fitzgerald, Gershwin Greene, William Russell and Luke-Kennedy Thompson.

Morley, who will lead the team in the competition, just graduated from Indiana University and he has been training with a group of professionals as she too looks towards making the transition to the pro ranks. “I can’t complain about my training right now. There’s been so much positive energy from my coaches and team-mates, so I’m very happy,” said Morley.

“In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been learning how to swim for yourself rather for a team. But I have so many role models to look up to, so I can’t complain. I’m really enjoying it so far. I had a wonderful college experience. The team atmosphere at Indiana University and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything else.”

The year for Morley was capped off with Indiana winning the Big Ten Conference for the first time and finishing 10th in NCAA. Hopefully, she can continue the year with a great showing for the Bahams at the Pan Am Games.

• The FINA World Junior Championships is scheduled for August 20-25 in Budapest, but the BSF has not yet released the names of those swimmers selected to compete.