Carifta: Five Bermuda Swimmers In Finals
The 2012 Carifta Championships are set to conclude tonight [Apr.15] in the Bahamas, with the final round of swimming set to include five Bermuda swimmers looking to add to the seven medals won thus far.
National Swim Coach for Bermuda Ben Smith said: “On the final morning heats of the 2012 Carifta Championship, the plan was to finish strong. Everyone had another opportunity to swim and another opportunity to better their times. The first event was the 400 freestyle and we had Jesse Washington, Philip Hagen and Nick Patterson competing.
“Jesse moved directly to tonight’s final as the top heat is done at night. He is seeded 3rd behind the two swimmers from Guadalupe who he has been battling for the entire meet. Next was Philip in his 400 where he lowered his personal best time. Nick Patterson had a strong swim but finished 1 second above his personal best time.”
“Next up was the most exciting event in the meet, the 50 free. This event is splash and dash and there is no room for error. Shannon Hassell swam a 30:80 finishing 14th with a new personal best. Maddie Moore swam a personal best of 30:39 taking 12th. Aaron finished his first Carifta with another personal best swimming 32:42 and placing 27th.
“Jesse Washington swam 27:49 which is 6 hundredths of a second away from William Massey’s age group record and has him seeded 2nd for tonight’s final. Philip finished off his Carifta by breaking 28 seconds for the first time with a time of 27:83. Ashley Yearwood had a strong morning, swimming 27:72 and she will be in the fast 50 final tonight.
“Benedict Parfit was the next person to join the final with a blistering swim of 24:41 which has him seeded 2nd for the finals. He followed this great swim with the 100 breast but suffered foot cramps right off the start and finished in 14th.”
“We finished this morning with the 200 back and we had Maddie Moore finish her meet by dropping 7 seconds of her personal best in a time of 3:00:79. Shannon Hassell was not ready to end her meet and dropped her personal best by 15 seconds and is seeded first for the finals with a relaxed 2:44:82.
“Katrina Beverage rounded out the morning with a good 200 finishing with a 2:38:41. We will have 5 swims in the finals tonight to finish off what has been truly an amazing 2012 Carifta Championships.”
