Ten Swimmers To Compete At Caribbean Champs
The Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association will be sending a squad of 10 swimmers to the 2012 Caribbean Island Swimming Championships, which will be held in Oranjestad, Aruba, from the 23rd to the 27th of June.
Ben Smith, co-National Coach for the Bermuda National Swim Team, said: “Roy-Allan Burch will be attending as his last tune up meet before the Olympics. We are expecting a strong swim from him in the sprint events in the 18 and over age group – especially after he just smashed the National records at the local CCS National Championships two weekends ago.”
“Julian Fletcher, who unfortunately just narrowly missed the Olympic cut, but holds National record times, will be out to show his form in the 18 and over breast events.”
“Lisa.Blackburn has just competed in the Bahamas Nationals last weekend where she lowered her National record and will be in race mode in the 18 and over age group. After coming so close to hitting the Olympic time it will be great to see how she performs in our region.”
“Rebecca Heyliger, also competing in the 18 and over age category, has just returned from a hard training camp with a school team at the University of Southern California. As her teammates prepared for the US Olympic trials she was preparing for CISC and we hope to see her hard work pay off in the sprint events.”
“Stephanie Myles, also in the 18 and over age category, will be returning to the Bermuda team after having several record performances in the distance free events at the University of Alberta. She will also be in great form and we hope to see more records from her.”
“Nic Patterson will be swimming in the 15-17 age group and will be looking to continue his strong form in the butterfly events. He hopes to better his 4th place finish from this year’s Carifta Championships. This is his last year of competing in this age group category before joining the seniors in the 18 and over.”
“Ashley Yearwood has just returned home after doing her preparation at the Baylor school. She will be hoping to build on her medal performance at this year’s Carifta championships.”
“Philip Hagen will be making his second major regional meet for the year after qualifying for his first Carifta earlier this year. He was able to lower his times significantly since Carifta and will be glad to meet the new challenge at CISC.”
“Shannon Hassell was able to get one of each medal at Carifta this year in the backstroke events. She will be out to get more hardware at CISC and to see what she can do in her much improved freestyle.”
“Jesse Washington had an amazing Carifta this year so it will be interesting to see what he can do for an encore. He has been working hard and showing even faster times since returning home and we are hoping for another incredible performance from him in his last meet against our region.”
Coach Smith concluded by saying” I am quietly optimistic that we can have great success with a small team once again. Every swimmer that we are taking is well prepared and in great form. This could be an opportunity for our athletes to shine again but you never know what happens until you reach the competition.
“We are very happy with the progress of the programme and the way that our swimmers have been performing this season. I know that no matter what they will give their best effort and I am sure they will represent the Bermuda National Team well and in the process make Bermuda proud.”
