THE 2017 RHAC Invitational Swim Meet came to an end last Sunday after four days of incredibly competitive swimming among 25 clubs and 310 swimmers from islands across the Caribbean.
This annual meet, now in its 18th year, challenges our local swimmers to raise the bar as they compete with top athletes from around the region. For this reason, the Sharks Swim Club is extremely proud to have brought home the trophy for St. Lucia, winning the event for the second time in the last five years.
The Sharks’ team performance was strong and energetic throughout the four days of competition with our swimmers stretching the lead each day to score a whopping 861 points and emerging victorious at the end of the meet. This was truly a team effort with all our swimmers from 5 to 30 years old contributing to our success and bringing into focus the incredible team spirit that is Sharks.
The team’s outstanding performance stood out in the relay events with our relay teams winning 5 of the 12 relays, generating lots of excitement among the packed stands of supporters, parents and well-wishers.
Our individual swimmers also achieved an incredible 116 personal best times throughout the four strokes and distances with our cumulative medal count topping off at 35 gold, 23 silver and 16 bronze. In addition, Sharks swimmers took home the coveted high points trophies for two age groups with Antoine Destang emerging the Boys 8-and-under champion and Eden Crick the Girls 15-and-over champions.
Highlighting the incredible talent in our midst was the fantastic performance of our 8-and-under swimmer Destang who won all ten of his individual events while setting meet records in every race and also winning his two sprint challenges.
Our swimmers described the meet as “great” with several mentioning the “tough competition” but all were excited about the opportunity to meet and make new friends from around the Caribbean. Our coaches stressed that the meet was a true indicator of success through hard work, focus on proper technique and commitment to the club’s training principle of striving for continuous improvement or Kaizen.
Look out for the next big Sharks venture with The Oliver Gobat-Sharks I’m Strong Swim Meet scheduled for Saturday, June 17 in celebration of athleticism, brotherhood and fatherhood.