Swimming Coach On Day #2 Of Carifta Games
National Swim Coach Ben Smith spoke about the second day of competition of the 2013 Carifta Swimming Championships in Jamaica, giving a review of the performances which included numerous Bermuda swimmers making the finals, setting personal bests as well as claiming a medal.
He said, “This morning we had multiple swimmers in every event and it made for a busy session. The 200 free was our first event and we had Ashley Irby and Maddie Moore up first. Ashley had a strong PB in the event and looked very good. Maddie struggled in her first event since the gold medal swim and just missed the finals.
Jesse Washington in action in Jamaica, photo by Doug Patterson:
“In the 11-12 boys Alex Pilgrim was just over PB while Evan Farrow had a great swim, knocking 4 seconds off his time. In the 13-14 Vanessa Esposito was outside PB in her swim, while Shannon Hassell managed to get into the final without swimming a PB. Alex McCalum had a really good 200 where he dropped 12 seconds from his time. Jesse was just above his PB while he swam a relaxed morning swim to reach the finals.
“Sophie Froud swam a 2:25 in her 200 while Vaughn Rowse swam 2:14.05. In the 50 fly Emma Harvey charged out by dropping her PB from 32.36 to 31.21 which put her in a tie for second place going into the finals. Ashley Irby also dropped her time in the 50 swimming 33.17.
“The 11-12 Boys in the 50 fly were Ethan Daley who dropped 4 seconds and Josh Irvine who swam 35. Vanessa Esposito dropped a second in her 50 fly, and Shannon Botelho went under 30 for the first time. Jesse lowered his PB and made the finals while Dejan also went under 30 but missed out on the finals in his age group.
“The 100 back saw Maddie and Emma get to the finals and they were followed in by Shannon Hassell in the 13 and 14 age group. Sophie Froud had a good swim and finished in 13th place. Josh Irvine was DQ’d from the 100 back with an underwater finish. Shannon Botelho lowered his time and so did Alex Pilgrim. Megan Lau swam a very good 400 IM where she lowered her time by 10 seconds and Emma was straight to finals for her IM.
“The morning finished with the 11-12 girls swimming the medley relay. They set the new age group record and qualified in 5th place.”
Speaking about the finals held in the second day, Coach Smith said, “Shannon Hassell had a good final in the 200 free where she finished 8th. Jesse Washington lowered his best time in the 200 free from 2:05 to 2:02 which also lowered his Bermuda record which placed him 5th. Emma Harvey had a very strong 50 fly final but finished 4th just missing her first medal.
“Jesse lowered his time again in the 50 fly which gave him another record and he finished 4th just getting touched out for a medal. Emma and Maddie were up next in the 100 back final. It was a very fast race that saw Maddie take the lead early and hold on to it until the last 10 meters.
“She took the silver with a record time breaking what she set in the morning. Emma finished in a good 7th position. Both relays finished the night on a high with the girls taking 7th and the boys taking 6th in the 4×100 medley.”
You can view Coach Smith’s review of the first day of competition here, and all our coverage of the Carifta Games here.
