With the CARIFTA Swimming championships being held here, president of the Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF) Algernon Cargill is making sure that this year's team is as strong as it could possibly be.
Locked in a closed ratification meeting for more than three hours with the executives and council members yesterday, the BSF selected the best junior swimmers to compete in the April 12-15 championships. The Bahamas will play host to more than 20 countries from around the Caribbean during this time. The CARIFTA Swimming Championships will take place at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Aquatics Center, and the CARIFTA Water Polo and Synchronized Swimming Championships will be held in Jamaica, April 5-10. That team will be ratified and released today.
"The overall goal is to field the best team to represent The Bahamas at the CARIFTA Championships," said Cargill. "We have some very strong swimmers coming from overseas and that is going to help boast the team.
"It will be a challenge for the team because this year's team will be filled with a lot of young swimmers who are first time CARIFTA athletes, so we are hopeful that we will represent The Bahamas well, but it will be a big challenge going forward."
A 36-member squad for swimming was selected hours after the CARIFTA Swimming Trials concluded. That meet was held over the weekend. The prospects for the water polo team practice every day at the national aquatics center, and people will be chosen based on their performances at those sessions.
"That is a very young team so we expect that team to do well also," said Cargill, about the water polo squad. "They are young and will be competing with some of the best in the Caribbean. Water polo is a growing sport.
"It is not as popular as swimming but nonetheless, we were able to get some young persons out and give them an opportunity to represent The Bahamas in another discipline."
The Bahamas will not be competing in the synchronized swimming segment in Jamaica.
At last year's CARIFTA Swimming Championships, which was held in Barbados, The Bahamas collected 41 medals; 12 gold, 17 silver and 17 bronze. As a team, they placed third overall with 610 points. Guadeloupe had a combined team score of 736.50 points, and Trinidad and Tobago scored 679 points, for the first and second spots respectively.
Cargill is confident that this year's team will do well. He said that the squad selected is well rounded and all divisions are strong. Returning swimmers such as Bria Deveaux, Taryn Smith, T'Auren Moss and Evante Gibson are expected to lead their respective divisions.
Moss qualified in the 100 meters (m) butterfly. He swam 58.51 seconds for the win over Peter Farquharson at the CARIFTA Trials this past weekend. Farquharson touched the wall in 1:05.52. In the 100m backstroke, Moss' time was 1:05.83 and he swam 54.89 seconds in the 100m free. He clocked 25.57 seconds in the 50m free for the win on Saturday. The time of 25.56 seconds was all Moss needed to win the 50m butterfly. Four of the five swimmers that dove into the pool in this event swam below the standard set, but only the top two times will be considered. The second fastest time was 27.51 seconds turned in by Perez Moss. Donovan Higgs and Laron Morley had times of 27.81 and 28.36 seconds respectively. The BSF had set 29.20 seconds as the qualifying time.
Simone Sturrup is expected to lead the charge in the girls 13-14 division at CARIFTA. Over the two-day meet, she swam below the standard set by the BSF in three events.
She recorded 1:10.93 in the 100m butterfly and 32.22 seconds in the 50m butterfly. In the 50m free, she touched the wall and stopped the clock in 28.87 seconds for the win over Doran Reed and Andreas Weech, who were also under the standard time.
Reed's time was 28.98 seconds and Weech swam 29.66 seconds. While Sturrup used her speed, Joanna Evans showed her endurance in the 800m freestyle race. Evans clocked 9:22.88 for the win in the 13-14 division. She also won the 200m breaststroke in 3:03.59. Evans recorded a time of 2:13.55, in the 200m freestyle and Reed swam 2:23.87. Both times were below the standard set.
Taryn Smith turned a few heads with her time in the 100m butterfly, of 1:08.84. She moved on to win the 200m butterfly in 2:30.64 and the 50m free in 28.09 seconds.
Cargill made a plea for more assistance with the hosting of the championships. He said: "We also want to continue to plead to corporate Bahamas. The support for CARIFTA Swimming has been very slow. We've surprisingly received a lot of no's from a lot of big companies and that is disappointing. We want to encourage corporate Bahamas to support CARIFTA Swimming and the young athletes."
Both teams will train today at the national aquatics center.

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