Team Saint Lucia put on an impressive and commendable performance at last weekend’s CARIFTA Swim Meet to haul in 12 medals – while securing 9th place overall in the competition.
Prolific junior national swimmer, Tristan Dorville was again at his very best adding another gold medal to his tally on the final day (Day #4), while Fayth Jeffrey collected a bronze medal.
Representatives of the St Lucia Aquatic Federation (SLAF) along with ministry of sports officials are singing praises to Team 758 for turning out to compete determinedly and for displaying a remarkable performance.
Team St Lucia’s seven- member team gave a good account of themselves competing at the XXXV Carifta Swimming Championships in Barbados, from April 16 to 20. The team consisted of Ethan Hazell, D’Andre Blanchard, Fayth Jeffrey, Naekeisha Louis, Tristan Dorville, Karic Charles and Naima Hazell.
“You have truly made us proud,” declared a SLAF spokesperson, “Total medal count for Team 758 is big 12. Congratulations!”
On the final day of the competition, Team 758 added two more medals to the count; with Tristan Dorville bringing in one gold and Fayth Jeffrey bringing in one bronze medal.
Team 758 participated in a total of 50 swimming events over four days and performed exceptionally well.
Tristan Dorville competed in nine events, to achieve a final placement in all nine swims. He made the podium in seven of these events attaining three Gold – 100M freestyle, 50M freestyle, and the 50M Butterfly, three silver – 100M Butterfly, 200M freestyle, 200M IM, and one bronze medal in the 50M backstroke.
Tristan also achieved the High Points trophy in the 13-14 age group.
Fayth Jeffrey swam nine events and progressed to finals in all. She secured a spot on the podium four times with four bronze placements – 100M breast, 200M breast, 400M IM, and 200M IM.
Naima Hazell took to the waters in seven events forging ahead with four placements in the finals. She contributed to the medal count with a silver placement in the 50M breaststroke.
Karic Charles swam six events, swimming personal best in three, advancing to the finals in two of these events.
D’Andre Blanchard swam seven events with personal best times in three and also advanced to finals in two events.
Team Captain Naekeisha Louis competed in seven events. She advanced to finals in the 50M Butterfly and was the 1st alternate in the 50M freestyle.
Ethan Hazell swam five events and attained personal best times in five races.
SLAF President Eddie Hazell was overly satisfied with the outcome of the meet, noting: “I truly came to the meet with the expectation of four medals. I did not see the huge haul coming. What we have witnessed is testimony to the type of preparation that was put in place for those swimmers, with the inclusion of the Mental Training and Massage Therapy into their programme, which played a huge part in their overall performance.”
The SLAF acknowledged the support and contributions from Marise Skeet (Mental Exercises), Wayne Benti (Self-Motivation exercise), Wayne Burton ( Anti-Doping session), and Daren Sammy (Motivational exercise).
SLAF also recognized the sponsors that included, the St Lucia Olympic Committee, Saint Lucia National Lotteries Authority, BOSLIL Bank, St Lucia Electricity Services, Invest Saint Lucia, St Lucia Tourism Authority, Togs, Ministry of Youth Development & Sports, Leverage Management Inc. a, and the Ministry of External Affairs.
According to the SLAF, Team Manager Tessa Louis Charles, Observer Yasmin Tyson, Coach Andy Edward, Massage Therapist Sabrina Odol and Official Hilroy Emanus also played a pivotal role in attending to the needs of the swimmers.
Sports Minister Kenson Casimir along with other representatives from the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports were on hand to welcome Saint Lucia’s swim team at the VIP Lounge, George F. L. Charles Airport, upon their return.