Best Of The BEST Swim Series Results
This weekend saw the last preparation meet for Carifta swimmers held at the BASA pool. National Coach Ben Smith said, “We had two very good meets at the BASA pool at Saltus.
“It was really good to have the meets return to the BASA pool at Saltus. We started with the Best of Best #2 meet which had been postponed from last weekend.
“Most of the swimmers had gone through a week of hard practices and we were looking to see how the swimmers would perform at this point in the season. There were several swimmers that were on form hitting multiple personal best times.
“Elan Daley was back on island and was able to set a new record In the 50 back with a 43.87 which takes the record from fellow shark Jessica Bruton who set the record last June.
“Maddie Moore continues to swim fast this season as she added the 100 IM to her record haul for the season swimming 1:15.66 which beat the 1:16.17 that was set by Ashley Yearwood in 2007.
“The 15-16 4×50 free record was taken by a Sharks team that featured two swimmers from the 13-14 age group. Jesse Washington 13 and Shannon Botelho 14 joined 15 year old Ferdinand Arnold and 16 year old Philip Hagen in the 4×50 freestyle record. The previous record was 1:56.79 from 2010 but the Sharks team swam an impressive 1:49.01.
“This was the last preparation meet for our Carifta swimmers and many were close to personal best which shows that their form is strong leading into the final 10 days of preparation.
“The Development meet was very exciting with many of our newer swimmer being cheered along by a full stand of parents. Several swimmers were able to hit the standard at this meet to move into the standard level meets and be able to enter the last of the Best of Best series in April.
“Junior Sharks Coach Kim Thomas was very pleased with her youngsters in this meet. There were several swimmers that have been working hard in the pool over the last several weeks and they were able to swim well in the meet. Brian Desmond, Tayla Horan and Carys Nokes all made the B standard so they will move to the big meet next month.
“Even better than that there are 4 juniors knocking on the door, May Telenko, Gabbi Pitman, Sam Williamson and Tayla Horan – the next 6 weeks will hopefully allow us the time to get them ready to also make those B times. Well done guys!”
Commenting from the Dolphins Swim Club, Head Coach Barry Hanson noted “Our swimmers had a really good day on Saturday, despite revised training schedules throughout the last couple of months.
“They have all been working really hard and I am proud of all of them as many swam PB’s in all of their races while others swam in longer distance races for the first time.”
Additionally, Coach Hanson commends Peter Dill, Sammy Dill, Tate Crofts and Madson Irvine for their accomplishments in the 1500 Meter Freestyle. “This was the first time each of these swimmers participated in the event and they all had strong races.”
“I would also like to mention very strong performances from Lorena Godwin and Nicholas Brando. Lorena had PBs in every race and improved her times dramatically in each of her events while Nicholas improved his 50 Fly by 1 and a half seconds.”
Harbour Coach Richard Goodwin noted the 11 and 12 year old Harbour Swimming Club girls’ team of Alyssa Paynter, Sophie Clare, Emma Harvey and Ashley Irby set a new record in the 4 x 50 freestyle relay.
