The Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association’s Technical Committee confirmed the first 15 swimmers for this year’s Carifta Swimming Championships which left two more opportunities to qualify before the entry deadline on March 9th.
At the Warwick Academy Swimming Pool the first of those meets saw all swimmers that participated swam very fast.
Sophie Froud was the first to hit her second time for Carifta with a time of 29.28 during the 50m Freestyle which gave her the second AA standard to be selected.
Alex McCallum hit his second time also in the 50 Freestyle with a 27.34 to make himself eligible. Megan Lau was the next swimmer to hit her second selection time with a 1 second drop in the 50m Breaststroke that saw her hit 40.56 at the wall.
National Coach Ben Smith said, “This means that the team has grown to 18 qualified swimmers and with one weekend to go we hope that there will be a couple more that reach the mark.”
During the meet Jessie Thomas was able to make her first selection time during the 50m Butterfly which sets her up to have to get her second time at next weekend’s Best of Best #2 meet.
“Many of our other swimmers that have already been selected for the team were in great form and posted personal best times,” continued Smith.
Smith went on to say, “Of note the Boy’s 200m Freestyle saw Philip Hagen, Vaughn Rowse and Jesse Washington all swim Personal Best times with Washington finishing in first place with a 2:02 which is really good for a 13 year old swimmer. All three of these swimmers are jockeying for position to be able to represent Bermuda at this summer’s Island Games in this event.”
Emma Harvey continues to improve meet by meet and her 32.00 in the 50m Butterfly had everyone buzzing.
Smith concluded, “There will be lots of excitement next weekend with it being the second in the Best of Best series and the last chance to qualify for Carifta.”
