Competitive swimming returns

The Bahamas Aquatics Federation (BAF) hosted its end-of-year time trials meet this past weekend where a number of records were broken and UANA and CARIFTA standards were achieved as swimmers put on a show at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Aquatics Center.

It has been over nine months since the BAF hosted a meet. Their last meet was the last chance meet held March 6-7 at the same location. The meet this past weekend was the first swim meet where all the clubs were invited to swim since March.

Nigel Forbes swam away with two 13-14 boys age category national records. The Grand Bahamian who came into New Providence with the YMCA WaveRunners Swim Club did the feat in the 100 and 200 meters (m) butterfly events. He also achieved the Union Americana de Natacion (UANA) standard times in those events.

“I feel good, especially coming back from quarantine and not being able to swim for about three months. We just got back into the water a couple months ago and we have been training hard and I got the records,” Forbes said.

Forbes broke his own record in the 100m fly with a time of 56.96 seconds on Saturday afternoon. The up-and-coming swimmer set that record back in February, when he swam 57.81 seconds at the 2020 UANA Swimming Cup held in Lima, Peru.

In the 200m fly on Friday night, Forbes was masterful in the pool as he swam his way to a record time of 2:09.38. The YMCA WaveRunners swimmer lowered his own record again. His previous record was 2:12.61 set back in 2019. Finishing a distant second in that event was Barracuda Swim Club’s Matthias Simms with a time of 2:49.63. Simms’ teammate Hodari Prince had the third fastest time when he touched the wall in 3:00.36.

Grand Bahamian Forbes was able to achieve the UANA standard of 32.30 seconds and CARIFTA standard of 35.05 seconds in the 50m breaststroke. He finished that race in 31.42 seconds. Forbes also went on to achieve the UANA and CARIFTA standards in the 50m fly when he recorded a time of 25.95 seconds. The UANA standard in that event is 27.60 seconds and the CARIFTA standard is 30.37 seconds.

Forbes’ teammate Zoe Williamson swam in seven events in the 11-12 girls age category and was able to go under the CARIFTA standards in four of the races – the 50m fly, and the 50, 100 and 200m freestyle events.

“It feels good to be swimming with other clubs. I am trying to get used to this 50m pool because I haven’t been in a 50m pool for a while. It got easier to adjust each day that I swam,” Williamson said.

In the 50m fly, Williamson touched the wall in 32.51 seconds to go under the CARIFTA standard of 34.29 seconds. Finishing with the second fastest time in that event was Anjaleah Knowles with a time of 35.50 seconds. Third place went to Lauren Bridgewater from Barracuda Swim Club as she recorded a time of 36.38 seconds.

Williamson sped her way to finish the 50m free in 30.96 seconds to go under the CARIFTA standard of 31.99 seconds. Mako Aquatics’ Alia Clarke had the second fastest time when she clocked 32.08 seconds. Barracuda’s Chloe Rolle finished her swim in 32.52 seconds to secure the third fastest time.

In the 100m freestyle, Williamson was able to swim 1:08.02 to attain the CARIFTA standard of 1:09.89. Also achieving the CARIFTA standard and swimming the second fastest in that event was Clarke. She recorded a time of 1:09.43. Williamson’s teammate, Seannae Norvelle-Smith, had the third fastest time of 1:10.46.

Williamson achieved her final CARIFTA standard in the 200m free. The 11-year-old clocked a fast 2:23.20 as she comfortably went under the CARIFTA standard of 2:30.99. Williamson said she was very happy with her time in this race. Norville-Smith was a good distance behind her, finishing in a time of 2:39.94 for second. The Blue Waves Swim Club’s Shianne Brooks had the third fastest time when she touched the wall in 2:44.99.

Swimming in four events was Mako’s Caden Wells. The 12-year-old achieved the UANA standard in three 11-12 boys age category events and the CARIFTA standards in all four events.

“I am happy with my times. I think I could have done a little bit better in some of my races but other than that, I think I did pretty good,” said Wells.

In the 200m breaststroke, Wells swam 2:48.06 as he went under the UANA time of 2:59.10 and the CARIFTA standard of 3:08.89. Wells’ teammate Ayrton Moncur swam the second fastest time of 2:48.06 as he also went under the UANA and CARIFTA standards. Aidan Kemp of Alpha Aquatics Club achieved the CARIFTA standard when he swam the third fastest time of 3:00.20.

Wells, Moncur and Kemp finished in the same position in the 50m breast. Wells clocked 33.68 seconds to achieve the UANA standard time of 36.04 seconds and the CARIFTA standard time of 40.09 seconds. Moncur also went under the UANA and CARIFTA standard times when he swam 34.64 seconds. For Kemp, he swam 37.06 seconds to achieve a CARIFTA qualifying time.

In the 100m breaststroke, the trio finished in the same position once again. Wells swam 1:15.46 to finish faster than the UANA standard time of 1:18.79 and the CARIFTA standard of 1:27.59. Moncur battled his way to 1:17.68 to also finish under the UANA and CARIFTA standard times. Kemp also achieved the CARIFTA standard when he touched the wall in 1:22.52.

In the 100m free, Wells met the CARIFTA standard time of 1:07.49 when he finished third with a time of 1:02.57. Winning that race and achieving the UANA time of 1:01.40 along with the CARIFTA standard was the WaveRunners’ Ellie Gibson as he touched the wall in 58.76 seconds. Alpha Aquatics’ Jerrod Charles also achieved the UANA and CARIFTA standards when he swam 1:00.39.

Happy to be back in the pool was senior national team member N’Nhyn Fernander of the Barracuda Swim Club. Known for the butterfly events, Fernander swam in the 15-and-over boys 50m breast. He swam a time of 29.66 seconds. Luke Kennedy from Alpha Aquatics had the second fastest time of 30.46 seconds. Mako’s Tyler Russell finished in 31.51 seconds for third.

Forbes, Williamson and Wells were set to travel to Barbados to swim for The Bahamas at the 2020 CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Wildey, Barbados, but due to the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, that meet was canceled. Barbados has already announced plans surrounding the hosting of the meet next year.

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