The Grenada Amateur Swimming Association’s (GASA) Powerade National Championship Swim Meet concluded on Sunday following 3 days of action-packed competitive swimming at the Good Hope pool in St Paul’s.
At the opening ceremony on Saturday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Religious Affairs, Kevin Andall, pledged government’s support to the development of swimming and confirmed that Cabinet has approved the allocation of lands for the construction of a new aquatic facility at Queen’s Park. Andall said he looks forward to the day when an event such as the GASA National Champs can be held in a professional swimming facility to foster the development of more Olympic quality swimmers.
Parliamentary Representative, Tobias Clement, has also been advocating for the establishment of a 1st class swimming facility in Grenada, and welcomed the confirmation of the allocation of lands for this purpose.
The National Champs put out stellar performances by over 150 swimmers participating in the competition.
- Jenebi Benoit (Boys 13–14) walked away with 9 gold medals
- Enya Noel (Girls 15–17) 11 gold medals
- Oreoluwa Cherebin (Girls 18 and over) 11 gold medals.
Good Hope Pool was the scene of much excitement as 3 of the competitive swimmers made qualifying times to join Grenada’s National Swim Team to compete at the Central American & Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) 2017 Meet at the end of June. The swimmers include:
- Parshawn Haynes & Zackary Gresham (Boys 11–12) 50-Yard Fly both in a time of 28.18 seconds
- Ariann Clouden (Girls 11–12) 50-Yard Fly in a time of 28.81 seconds.
These 3 swimmers join the National team members that had already qualified prior to the National Champs meet this past weekend:
- Kimberly Ince and Meeka Ollivierre (Girls 11–12)
- Jenebi Benoit (Boys 13–14)
- Delron Felix (Boys 15–17) will not be participating this year due to school commitments)
- Kerry Ollivierre (Boys 15–17)
- Oreoluwa Cherebin (Girls 18 and over)
- Corey Ollivierre (Boys 18 and over)
The following swimmers emerged as age group champs in the weekend’s competition:
| 7–8 Girls | Emma McIntosh | Grenfin |
| 7–8 Boys | Mallon Paterson | Grenfin |
| 9–10 Girls | Sara Dowden | GYA Sailfish |
| 9–10 Boys | Joshua Wilson Dumont | Rapid Aquatics |
| 11–12 Girls | Mia Neckles | Grenfin |
| 11–12 Boys | Zackary Gresham | Torpedoes Competitive Swim Club |
| 13–14 Girls | Kaiya Ramdhanny | Grenfin |
| 13–14 Boys | Jenebi Benoit | Grenfin |
| 15–17 Girls | Enya Noel | Grenfin |
| 15–17 Boys | Kerry Ollivierre | Grenfin |
| 18 and over Girls | Oreoluwa Cherebin | Grenfin |
| 18 and over Boys | Chard Lewis | GYA Sailfish |
Grenfin retained the National Championship title with a total of 1798 points. GYA Sailfish placed 2nd with 1164 points. Torpedoes placed 3rd with 223 points, and Rapid Aquatics finished 4th with 78 points. Grenfin also won both the boys and girls categories of the competition with 920 and 846 points respectively; GYA Sailfish placed 2nd in both categories with 560 and 572 points respectively; Torpedoes Competitive Swim Club placed 3rd with 110 and 113 points respectively.
