The following is a press release courtesy of ASATT, the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad & Tobago.
Zarek Wilson continued his string of excellent performances establishing two new national records on Sunday, the final day of competition of the National Open Short Course Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain Couva.
The Blue Dolphins athlete emerged the fastest qualifier for the final with a time of 27.55 in the preliminaries of the 10 & under male 50m freestyle, bettering his record of 27.66. In the final Wilson won gold in 27.53, further improving on his record. The 200IM record was decimated by Wilson who won the event in 2:30.58, making little of his July 2016 record of 2:36.91 in the process. Nikoli Blackman of Marlins also went under the record, winning silver in 2:33.55. Wilson went on to win two more individual gold medals on the night in the 50m butterfly (31.05) and 100m backstroke (1:10.20).
Jahmia Harley just missed out on the national record breaking blitz missing the 13-14 200m backstroke record by 44 hundredths of a second. The Tidal Wave Aquatics lass touched the wall first in 2:22.59, evading the 1993 record of Sangeeta Puri. Harley managed however to set a new meet record, erasing the 2009 mark of Kimberlee John-Williams (2:23.98).
Jeron Thompson broke his 50m breaststroke record for the third time in as many swims. Swimming in time trial in the morning sessions, Thompson stopped the clock at 28.10, ahead of his record of 28.32 set the previous day. The Atlantis athlete also won gold in the 50m freestyle (23.26) and silver in the 100m breast (1:03.37). The 100m breast was won by his teammate Abraham Mc Leod in 1:00.63.
Kael Yorke of Tidal Wave Aquatics won the 200m butterfly in a new meet record of 2:10.20 erasing his old time of 2:11.13. On the night he also won silver in the 400m free (4:09.01) and bronze in the 50m free (24.10). Jada Chai of Atlantis won gold in the 200m butterfly in 2:28.40, while YMCA Tobago’s Bradley Thomas won gold in the 200m backstroke (2:15.65). Record breaker Amira Pilgrim of UTT scored double gold in the 100m breast (1:16.50) and 50m free (26.04).
In the 10 & under female category, Tidal Wave’s Gabrielle Vickles was the victor in the 50m freestyle in 30.38 and also in the 50m butterfly in 33.12. Her teammate Neishelah Caseman was the winner of the 100m back in 1:16.18. The girls 10 & under 200IM saw Zoe Anthony of Marlins winning gold in 2:42.92.
The Chatoor siblings continued their dominance in the long distance races as the Marlins swimmers won the 400m freestyle. Jada clocked 4:33.57, while Graham touched the wall in 4:06.81. The sibling duo won the 200, 400 and 800 free at the Championships, with Jada adding the 400IM and Graham adding the 1500m free to their gold tallies.
The next meet on the calendar is the Atlantic Primary School Meet on November 27 at the Point Fortin Community Pool, while the ASATT December Invitational takes place at the National Aquatic Centre from December 15 – 18.
News courtesy of ASATT.
AB
Trinidad-Tobago?
Yes