The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING the Mako 5K Open Water Swim at Long Wharf on Saturday, the Bahamas Swimming Federation has released the names of the swimmers who will represent the Bahamas at the XXXIV CARIFTA Swim Championships.

The announcement completes Team Bahamas, which will compete in Bridgetown, Barbados, April 20-23. The open water team will compete along with the swim and water polo teams, which were announced last week.

Male and female champions Joshua Murray and Anya MacPhail will head the 12-member team that will compete in the 15-17 and 13-14 divisions.

Three competitors each have been selected to compete in the four divisions.

The team, which will also be coached by Travano McPhee, who serves as the swim coach as well, is comprised of the following:

Girls 12-14 - Dedrie Higgs, Salene Gibson and Mia Sastre.

Girls 15-17 - Kaliyah Albury, Gigi Eneas and Anya MacPhail.

Boys 13-14 - Taye Fountain, Sean Longley and Ocean Smith.

Boys 15-17 - Ricardo Jolly, Joshua Murray and Mark-Anthony Thompson.

“I feel good about the team. We haven’t really had that much success in the past, It’s becoming a very popular event and more swimmers are training for it,” McPhee said. “So I feel with the way these guys are performing now, we can have a stronger team and hopefully bring home some medals.”

With about five weeks left before they head to Barbados, McPhee said they will take the competitors through a high level of training to keep their endurance up and get them ready.

“We also have to prepare them for the conditions that is unpredictable,” he said. “We have to prepare them for the weather over there, the rough seas, the jellyfish and those types of situations.”

Having seen the competition before, especially when it was staged here in the Bahamas last year, McPhee said they anticipate that Guadeloupe will be out to defend their title. But he expects for Team Bahamas to rise to the next level.

“That’s who we look to go head-to-head with. Hopefully we can take them down,” he said. “They have been a force in that event for the past few years. So Guadeloupe is definitely the team we hope to contend with this year.”

During the Mako 5K open water swim on Saturday, Murray pulled away in the three-lap race to easily win the title in one hour, 11 minutes and 42 seconds.

Jolly came in second in 1:13.05.

MacPhail, who is also on the swim team, came through as the third finisher, winning the girls’ title in 1:15:35.

Gibson, a 13-14 competitor, was the second female finisher in 1:17:18. Albury, who was a late replacement on the swim team, got third overall for the girls and second in the 15-17 division in 1:17:39.

Georgette Albury, the team manager, revealed that in addition to training, Team Bahamas will attend a church service, dine together and possibly pay a courtesy call on Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling before they depart for Barbados over the Easter holiday weekend.

The team, she revealed, will leave town on a Bahamasair charter on Thursday, April 18, and return on Wednesday, April 24. They will travel with a full complement of BSF officials, team members and spectators.