The Saint Lucia Aquatics Federation (SLAF) has selected a 10-member team to participate in the 2019 Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Championships, to be held at the Barbados Aquatic Center (BAC) from June 24th to July 8th.
The swimming portion of the meet runs from June 28th to July 2nd.
The CCCAN Championships will also feature traditional, open water, and artistic swimming, as well as water polo.
The team includes seven male and three female swimmers along with one coach, a team manager and one chaperone/masseuse.
Nine of the swimmers participated in this year’s CARIFTA Swim Championship which was held in Barbados; missing in action is CaitinPolius (Seajays).
Compared to last year’s CCCAN team there are three debutants this time around – Karic Charles (Lightning Aquatics), Tristan Dorville (Seajays) and Ziv Reynolds (Sharks).
Team Saint Lucia will compete in three age groups: 11-12 – Karic Charles (Lightning Aquatics) and Tristan Dorville (Seajays); 13-14 – Naima Hazell (Lightning Aquatics), Naekeisha Louis (Lightning Aquatics), Ziv Reynolds (Sharks) and D’Andre Blanchard (Seajays); 15-17 – Makaili Charlemagne, JayhanOdlum Smith (Seajays), Ethan Dyke Elliott (Seajays) and TerrelMonplaisir (Seajays).
Teams from all across the Caribbean and Central America will compete at the meet. These include swimming powerhouses such as Trinidad and Tobago the defending champions, Aruba, Panama, Jamaica, El Salvador and the Cayman Islands.
Brian Charles (Seajays) replaces last year’s coach Peter James (Lightning Aquatics); while team manager Tessa Charles-Louis (Lightning Aquatics) and Sabina Odol- Chaperones/Masseuse (Seajays) retain their positions.
According to the SLAF, before the team travels to Barbados, members will participate in an intense preparation schedule, including a training session in Martinique. Additionally, they will be engaged with mental training and nutritional exercises.
President Eddie Hazell congratulated the swimmers for making the team. Hazell said, “Coming out of CARIFTA, I expect the team’s performance to be impressive. With the assistance of the competitors and coaches, as well as support from the executive and parents, we all continue to work towards unleashing the greatness in our athletes especially at that level of competition.”
Saint Lucia has previously competed at this high-level swim championship and has been consistent in achieving medals at each meet; in 2014 one medal, 2015 ten medals, 2016 three medals, 2017 two medals and 2018 two medals.
In 2018, Saint Lucia’s two medals came from Naima Hazell (silver) swimming in the 11-12 age group 50 Metre Freestyle in a time of 27.61 seconds and Neikeisha Louis (bronze) swimming in the same age category in the 50 Metre Fly in a time of 30.42 seconds. Both swimmers are from the Lightning Aquatics Swim Club.
Also a combined nine age group records were broken by Naima Hazell in the 50 Metre Free and 50 Metre Back, D’Andre Blanchard in 100 Metre Free, Ethan Dyke Elliott in 200 Metre and 100 Metre Freestyle, Devin Boodha in 50 Metre, 100 Metre and 200 Metre Breaststroke and Jayhan Odlum Smith in 50 Metre Fly. There were also five new national records being set by Naima Hazell in 50 Metre Free, Ethan Dyke Elliott in 200 Metre and 400 Metre Free and Devin Boodha in 50 Metre and 100 Metre Breast.
The 2018 squad reads: D’Andre Blanchard, Naima Hazell, Neikeisha Louis, Mikaili Charlemagne, Katie Kyle, Devin Boodha, JayhanOdlum Smith, Ethan Dyke Elliott and Jamarr Archibald.
