The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Izaak Bastian, the top male FINA point getter, will join Grand Bahamian Joanna Evans as the two representatives for the Bahamas at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

While Evans made the A standard in the women’s 400m freestyle a few weeks ago in Texas, Bastian was selected by Bahamas Aquatics based on the point system at the end of the four-day National Swimming Championships yesterday at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex.

To help boost his chances for the trip to the Olympics from July 23 to August 8, Bastian made the B qualifying standard in the men’s 18-and-over 100m breaststroke. He clocked 1:01.44 to surpass the B standard of 1:01.73.

Laura Morley, one of the other female competitors hoping to qualify for the Olympics, did the B standard of 2:29.89 in the girls’ 18-and-over 200m breaststroke with her winning time of 2:28.12.

But she will have to wait to see if she’s invited by FINA to make the trip, considering the fact that Evans already did an A standard and all other females would have to do the A standard in their events.

“Izaak was selected by Bahamas Aquatics for the Olympics,” said Bahamas Aquatics president Algernon Cargill.

“The meet was more successful than we had hoped it would be primarily because we were able to pull this off in the COVID-19 environment and we had some outstanding swims in the 18-and-over category with Izaak Bastian and Laura Morley, who made the Olympic B standards.”

The meet, which attracted a number of international swimmers, saw at least six visitors attain the B standard in their events, but it’s not certain whether or not that will enable them to make their respective national teams.

Mako’s Lamar Taylor had one of the outstanding performances in the meet having set national records in both the 50 and 100m freestyles, while YMCA Waverunners’ Marvin Johnson and Nigel Forbes both performed exceptionally well.

A number of other national records were also established, but the final tally was not available up to press time last night. However, the high point winners were determined with Cristian Quinterro of Venezuela taking the overall male title with 875 points after he clocked 49.04 in the boys 18-and-over 100m freestyle.

Bastian was the highest ranked Bahamian in third place overall with 831 from his time of 27.21 in the 50m breaststroke.

Morley topped all females with 828 after she did 2:28.12 in her 200m breaststroke.

• The divisional high

point winners are

as follows:

• Girls 8-and-under - Mako’s Taylen Nicholls with 54, followed by Freeport Aquatic’s Kaleah Seymour with 47.

• Boys 8-and-under - YMCA’s Nitayo Knowles finished on top with 63. Blue Waves’ Kriston Rolle was the runner-up with 42.

• Girls 9-10 - Alpha’s Saleste Gibson emerged as the winner with 54. Barracuda’s Madyon Julien was the runner-up with 47.50.

• Boys 9-10 - BlueWaves’ Christon Joseph won the top spot with 56, just one better than runner-up David Singh of the Barracudas with 55.

• Girls 11-12 - YMCA’s Zoe Williamson clinched the top spot with 63. Her team-mate Zizou Salting took the runner-up trophy home to Grand Bahama as well with 57.

• Boys 11-12 - Lightning Aquatics’ Donald Saunders captured the top spot with 61. He was two points ahead of runner-up Tristen Hepburn of the YMCA with 59.

• Girls 13-14 - The Barracudas claimed the top two spots with Kyana Higgs winning with 61 and Rhanishka Gibbs as the runner-up with 52.

• Boys 13-14 - The YMCA also took home the top two trophies to Grand Bahama with Marvin Johnson emerging as the champion with 63 and Ellie Gibson as the runner-up with 51.

• Girls 15-17 - Alpha’s Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson collected 57 for the win and Mako’s Keianna Moss was the runner-up with 56.

• Boys 15-17 - Mako’s Lamar Taylor took the top spot with 61. YMCA’s Nigel Forbes was the runner-up with 57.

• Girls 18-and-over - Mako dominated the top two spots with Anya MacPhail winning with 61 and Kaliyah Albury was the runner-up with 51.

And in the boys’ 18-and-over category, Alpha’s Luke Kennedy Thompson came through with 55 and Davante Carey of Mako as the runner-up with 44.