Bermudians Win Swimming Medals In Florida
After one swimming session at the Michael Lohberg Invitational Meet in Coral Springs, Florida, was completely cancelled due to a severe thunder and lightning storm, morning heats subsequently got underway under hot and humid conditions, allowing all swimmers to continue their ongoing competition.
A BASA spokesperson said, “Following a grueling four hours, four Bermuda swimmers successfully advanced to the evening finals.
“10-year-old Jessica Bruton made it to finals in all three of her events in a highly competitive field of girls. She earned a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:22.12, a fourth place finish in the 200 individual medley, clocking 2:58.84, and a fifth place finish in the 50 freestyle with a time of 0:33.31.
“In the 10 and under boys division, Finn Moseley earned a silver medal in the 100 backstroke with a tremendous performance, knocking a total of 12 seconds off of his seed time in his two swims for the day. His time in the finals was 1:24.50.
“Nick Brando made a brace of finals in the 11 and 12 boys age group, managing a sixth place finish in the 200 individual medley with a clocking of 2:43 91 and a fourth place in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:14 78. Teammate Brett Smith clinched a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke, moving up four places from his morning swim with a new personal best of 1:12.97.
“The 10 and under boy’s 4×50 freestyle relay quartet of Brian Desmond, Max McCrimmon, Finn Moseley and Sam Williamson set a new age group record with a great swim of 2;22.89, knocking 36 seconds off of the previous record in the process. The final swim for Bermuda this evening was the 11 and 12 boys 4 x 50 freestyle relay, featuring Brett Smith, Nicholas Brando, Keagan Woolley and Jude Moseley in a time of 2:04.59.
“After another five hour marathon morning of heats, 6 Bermuda swimmers emerged from that session to swim in the evening finals, which eventually got under way after a 2 hour weather delay from the threat of lightning.
“Jessica Bruton, competing in the 9 and 10 girls age group, advanced to three evening finals from all three of her swims in the morning’s heats. She again took a bronze medal in backstroke, this time in the 50, with a great swim of 0:38.03. In the 100 butterfly, she placed fifth with a 1:29.74 and rounded out the evening with a seventh place in the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:41.85. Skylar Trott finished just behind Jessica in the 50 backstroke to take fourth place after a good swim of 0:40.27, improving by half a second from her time in the heats.
“Brian Desmond set a new 9 and 10 year old boys age group record in the morning heats, clocking 2:46.53 in the 200 freestyle, and was the first alternate for the evening’s final. Teammate Finn Moseley added another medal to his meet collection with a bronze in the 50 backstroke, clocking a time of 0:39.52.
“In the boys 11 and 12 age group, Brett Smith and Nick Brando placed second and third in the 50 backstroke for the silver and bronze medals with times of 0:33.81 and 0:34.31, respectively. Keagan Woolley, swimming in the final of the 100 breaststroke, managed a seventh place finish with a time of 1:32.93
“Tomorrow, Sunday June 22nd is the last day of the 4 day meet and will feature the 400 freestyle for the younger age groups, the 50 breaststroke, the 50 butterfly for the younger age groups, the 200 butterfly for the older age groups and the 100 freestyle. Bermuda will also be entering teams in the 4 x 50 medley relays in the 9 and 10 and the 11 and 12 boys age groups.
“At the end of yet another five hours of heats on the final day of the Michael Lohberg Invitational swim meet, four swimmers representing Bermuda advanced to the finals. With another two inevitable delays to the start of that session due to severe weather, finals eventually got under way at 6.30pm.
“Once again, it was Jessica Bruton who captured the spotlight, earning her third medal of the meet with a great swim in the 50 butterfly. Correcting her start and break out from her eighth place finish in the morning saw her earn a bronze medal with a time of 0:36.16. She also took sixth place in the 100 freestyle in 1:13.19, closely followed by Skylar Trott in seventh place with a time of 1:14.82.
“Sam Williamson captured seventh place in the 50 breaststroke, clocking 0:47.48, in the boys 9 and 10 age group, whilst Brett Smith also managed a seventh place finish in the same stroke and distance in the boys 11 and 12 age group with a swim of 0:41.01.
“In the morning heats, the boys 4 x 50 medley relay teams saw two age group records broken. For the 9 and 10 boys, the quartet of Finn Moseley, Sam Williamson, Max McCrimmon, and Brian Desmond set a new record of 2:46.39, smashing the old record by 42 seconds. In the 11 and 12 boys, the team of Brett Smith, Keagan Woolley, Nick Brando and Jude Moseley took 14 seconds off the previous record with a time of 2:21.84.”
“This was a young team which has had the opportunity to gain valuable international experience and face different challenges than they would normally. I am very pleased to see these young swimmers respond in a very positive fashion to these challenges and perform well in the process,” said coach Richard Goodwin.
