The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Joanna Evans continues to make Bahamian history in the pool at the FINA World Swimming Short Course Championships (25m).

The two-time Olympian reached the finals in both the 200m free and 400m free at the 15th edition of the event, hosted at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Evans finished seventh in yesterday’s 400m free final in 4:01.09 seconds, swimming out of lane seven. Li Bingjie of China took first place in 3:55.83, Summer McIntosh of Canada was second in 3:57.87 and Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong rounded out the medal podium in 3:58.12.

Evans produced a time of 4:03.53 in the prelims to advance as the eighth fastest qualifier in her second appearance at the Short Course World Championships.

At the 2014 edition of the meet, Evans finished 31st overall in the 400m free in a time of 4:13.83.

The former Texas Longhorn swam to an eighth place finish in the 200m free earlier last Thursday.

She swam 1:54.93 in the final to follow up on the 1:54.51 she swam in the heats to qualify and advance.

Evans became just the second Bahamian to advance to a final of the Short Course World Championships, following Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and her bronze medal at the Dubai Championships in 2011.

Evans is also the Bahamian national record holder in both events with her times of 1:54.36 in the 200m free and 4:00.14 in the 400m free. She had an active fall season in the International Swimming League as a member of DC Trident when she lowered the aforementioned record.

Team Bahamas also includes Olympian Izaak Bastian (Florida State) along with fellow NCAA student athletes Lilly Higgs (North Carolina) and Lamar Taylor (Henderson).

The quartet finished 12th overall in the mixed 4x50m free relay in a time of 1:36.43.

Individually, Bastian swam the 100m breaststroke and finished 30th overall in 59.61 - a new national short course record. He was also the first Bahamian to eclipse the one-minute barrier in the event.

Higgs swam the 50m breaststroke and finished 28th overall in 31.38. She also finished 26th overall in the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.87. Both times set new Bahamian national short course meet records.

Taylor finished 41st overall in the 50m freestyle in 22.38.

Bastian and Taylor will be the final members of Team Bahamas to compete when they swim in today’s prelims. Bastian competes in the 50m breaststroke while Taylor takes on the field in the 100m free.

The meet concludes December 21 and includes the world’s best ‘short course’ swimmers to compete across six days and 44 events. Over 900 swimmers are participating in the swim meet and an additional 197 in various events of the aquatics festival.