Team Grenada has won 14 medals overall — 7 silver and 7 bronze at the 37th Carifta Swimming Championships, and 5K Open Water competition held in The Bahamas from Saturday, 30 March to Wednesday, 3 April.
The team’s performances deserve tremendous commendation and each member comprising the team is deserving of special praise, since everyone of them has contributed significantly in various forms. For each day of the competitions there were several personal best (PB) times achieved. Those who did not medal swam well and in several cases obtained 2 or more PBs.
Apart from the PBs, a hugh majority of the team from each age category made it to the finals in either all, or most of their events. Most significantly the 14 medals obtained among Zackary Gresham, Tilly Collymore, Gabrielle Hyson, Sara Dowden and Anaika Otway is evidence that our swimmers are quite capable of achieving greater successes, once they continue to train hard.
Tilly Collymore and Jacob Collymore were the only Open Water competitors of the competitions. Tilly added to the 14th medal from the Open Water having placed second, while Jacob being his first time having competed in the Carifta Open Water competition did a great swim in 1:09:31.75 and placed 8th. Tilly’s time among the females was 1:10:28.29.
Following is a break down of the team’s general performance:
A total of 14 medals were won: 7 silvers and 7 bronze. The medal winners comprised:
- Tilly Collymore — 4 silvers in her 200 m Freestyle in a time of 2:10.58; 100 m Freestyle in a time of 58.78; 400 m Freestyle in a time of 4:36.51 and her 5k Open Water, swam in 1:10:28.29 as mentioned above. Tilly’s bronze was obtained in her 800 m Freestyle which she swam in 9:41.41
- Zackary Gresham — 4 bronze in his 50 m Backstroke in a time of 27.43; 50 m Breaststroke in a time of 31.26; 100 m Free in a time of 54.01 and his 100 m Breaststroke in a time of 1:08.37. Zackary’s 2 silvers were obtained in his 100 m Butterfly in a time of 57.07, and his 100 m Backstroke in 1:00.03
- Sara Dowden — 1 bronze in her 400 m Individual Medley (IM) which she executed in 5:27.08
- Anaika Otway — 1 bronze in her 50 m Breaststroke executed in a time of 34.13
- Gabrielle Hyson — 1 silver in her 100 Butterfly executed in 1:06.72
There were 40 PBs obtained, from among 11 of the 12 swimmers. These included Zackary Gresham, Jenebi Benoit, Jacob Collymore and Jaaziel Francis in the, males and Gabby Hyson,Tilly Collymore, Sara Dowden, Kristin Gresham, Zeia Ollivierre,Eliza Rose Benjamin and Nataly Escobar in the females. Special mention must be made of Nataly Escobar , the youngest member of the team who did personal best times in 5 of her 6 events, each with significant time cuts. Also worthy of special mention is long distance swimmer Tilly Collymore, who progressively obtained PBs in 9 of her events which included both her prelimnaries and final events.
Of significant importance also, is that the team had 40 appearances at Finals from among 10 of its 12-member team.
GASA is extremely proud of the team’s performance and therefore congratulates the athletes every effort. Thanks too to the officials, Coach Gerson Escobar, Manager Neil Francis, and chaperones Ruth Collymore and Nigel Gresham for their parts played.
The camaraderie and discipline within the team and again, its resilience, should not go unmentioned. Amidst all odds, they stood strong, swam strong and achieved strong.
GASA