Swimmers go under CARIFTA qualifying times

A number of Bahamian swimmers attained CARIFTA qualifying standards at a fiercely contested Alpha Aquatics Club Swim Meet on Friday and Saturday at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Swim Complex in New Providence.

Although the CARIFTA Aquatics Championships in Wildey, Barbados, have been postponed form April to a date to be announced later, local swimmers still showed up and put on fantastic performances at the three-session meet this past weekend. There were several new CARIFTA qualifiers as well as some who lowered their times. President of Alpha Aquatics Celestial Darville said she was happy to see how the swimmers performed.

“From the performances that I saw, I was amazed by the swimmers. It has been a rough time for everyone involved. A lot of the kids are still not back in school. The mental space with a lot of them is up and down but they came out and gave it their all and we could not be more pleased with what we saw, especially on such a cool weekend,” said Darville.

Rachel Lundy, who is no stranger to the CARIFTA scene, met the CARIFTA standard in the 400 meters (m) freestyle in the 15-17 girls division. She won that race with a time of 4:46.90 over the weekend. The Mako Aquatics Club swimmer comfortably dipped under the CARIFTA qualifying time of 4:53.10. Barracuda Swim Club’s Grace Farrington clocked 5:12.11 to finish second. Kaliyah Albury swam unattached and touched the wall in third place in 5:14.46.

Lundy was not finished yet as she went on to qualify for CARIFTA in the 15-17 girls 200m individual medley (IM). The 16-year-old swam 2:37.93 to go under the 2:40.10 CARIFTA qualifying standard. Her teammate Mia Sastre posted a time of 2:45.30 to finish second. Albury was third in 2:58.71.

The Mako swimmer qualified yet again for CARIFTA, this time in the 15-17 girls 200m free. She touched the wall in 2:16.07 to go under the qualifying time of 2:17.59. Finishing second behind her was Lyford Swim Club’s Delaney Mizell with a time of 2:22.65. Alpha’s Philena Styles swam 2:36.34 to finish third.

Coming into this meet, the host club’s Caleb Ferguson did not qualify in any event but like Lundy, he exited the meet going under three qualifying standards. Ferguson was able to clock 4:35.27 in the 13-14 400m free to go under the CARIFTA qualifying standard of 4:35.63. He won that race over the weekend with Barracuda’s Kyle Albury finishing second with a time of 5:10.61. Visiting from Turks and Caicos was Jajhari Williams and he swam 5:25.98 to finish third.

“I am happy with the times that I swam. Out of five of my races, I got CARIFTA times with three of them. I was also able to drop 12 seconds off my 400m IM. I hope to drop many more times ad get CARIFTA times in all of my events,” Ferguson said.

He added that his turns were a little off, but will improve as the season progresses. Ferguson was masterful in the 13-14 boys 100m free as he swam 57.64 seconds to go under the CARIFTA qualifying time of 57.78 seconds. Finishing second was Mako’s Tristin Ferguson who clocked 58.22 seconds. Powering his way to third was Alpha’s Daniel Ferguson III who touched the wall in 1:02.45.

Caleb Ferguson’s third CARIFTA qualifying time came in the 13-14 200m free when he swam 2:09.13 to finish second. Tristin Ferguson got the better of him in this race as he clocked 2:06.90 to finish first. The CARIFTA qualifying time in this event is 2:09.60. Mako’s Zion Gibson finished third in 2:15.94.

Tristan Ferguson and his teammate Amauri Bonamy went under the qualifying time of 28.51 seconds in the 13-14 boys 100m free. Ferguson’s time of 28.35 seconds helped him to win that race. Bonamy swam 28.41 seconds to finish second. Barracuda’s Matthias Simms clocked 29.15 seconds to finish third.

Mizell finished first in the 15-and-over girls 100m breaststroke to secure a qualifying time for CARIFTA in that event. She went under the 1:24.24 qualifying time when she touched the wall in 1:22.33. Styles was second with a time of 1:35.47.

“I was happy with my performances this weekend,” Mizell said. “I think it was a pretty good start to getting back to competition. I swam three good races and I am happy with my times. My times are right around where I want them to be but I think I have plenty things to work on to get even faster.”

Mizell also won the 15-and-over girls 50m free when she touched the wall in 28.16 seconds – dipping under the qualifying standard of 28.30 seconds. Mizell swam 27.95 seconds at the Bahamas Aquatics End of Year Meet in December 2020. Mako’s Keianna Moss was second in 29.01 seconds. Kaliyah Albury was third as she touched the wall in 30.03 seconds.

Moss said she was looking forward to CARIFTA last year, particularly with her being at the top of the 13-14 girls division. Now she is entering her first year in the 15-17 girls division. The 15-year-old still managed to qualify for CARIFTA in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:37.94. The CARIFTA qualifying standard is 2:44.28. Finishing second was the Barracuda’s Chyme Higgs as she clocked 3:01.22.

“I was pleased with my performances this weekend,” Moss said. “I think I could have done a little better in the 50m back. My coach said I am right where I need to be for CARIFTA and the other meets.”

Moss lowered her CARIFTA qualifying time from 1:11.51 to 1:10.45 in the 15-17 girls 100m back. The qualifying standard is 1:13.71.

Alpha’s Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson joined Mako’s Jamilah Hepburn as a CARIFTA qualifier in the 15-17 girls 200m breast with a time of 2:59.58. The qualifying time is 3:01.91. She was the only swimmer in that race over the weekend.

“I think I did good considering all of the factors,” Thompson said. “I was just trying to work on technique, race strategies as well as dives and the turn and all the technical stuff since CARIFTA was postponed. I figured now is the time to work on the details and then work on the bigger picture later.”

Thompson is no stranger to the CARIFTA scene. She sees CARIFTA being postponed as an opportunity to improve. Thompson said she is also excited to see what she can do at CARIFTA with the extra time to train and prepare to be stronger.

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