The OECS Swimming Championships are an annual event featuring countries from the OECS with competitive Swimming programs. The 27th annual OECS event will be held in St Lucia November 10th to 12th, 2017 inclusive.
Thanks to financial assistance from the National Lottery, FLOW and the SVG Olympic Committee,
The St Vincent and the Grenadines will be sending a team of 25 swimmers and two coaches to the 27th annual Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Swimming Championships, in St Lucia from tomorrow, Nov. 10, to Sunday.
This year the championships also feature athletes from Antigua, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Martinique, St. Lucia and SVG.
St. Martin and Sint Maarten will also compete as a guest team.
Medals are provided to the top three swimmers in each swim event and each age category.
Each country can accumulate points based on the position of their two best swimmers in each age category and event. The team accumulating the most points is declared the OECS Swimming Champion.
In addition, the individual with the most points in each age group is the overall champion of that age group.
The athletes selected to represent Team SVG in their age groups are as follows:
8 & Under: Zariel Nelson, Matthew Ballah, Eltonique Leonard,Seth Byron, and Hazen DaBriel.
9-10: Caitlin Polius, Jayson Sandy, Jamie Joachim, Eltonte Leonard, Kennice Greene, Brandon and Adiah Phillips.
11-12: Mya Defrietas, Tristan, Paige Cadogan, Bryson, Akayla Crichton, Kanale Alleyne, and Tia GunMunro.
13-14: Ria Adams and Tyrese Lewis.
15 – 17: Nikolas Sylvester, Shane Cadogan, Cruz Halbich and Dillon Gooding.
The competition is expected to be keenly contested and will feature some of the best swimmers in the Caribbean.
“We expect to see the best from SVG’s elite swimmers and while we do not yet have the depth and numbers of elite swimmers to challenge for the overall team championships, we expect several of our individual swimmers to do very well in the individual events and bring home medals to SVG,” the SVG Swimming Federation said in a press release.
“Our elite swimmers with excellent medal potential on the male side include Nikolas Sylvester, Shane Cadogan, Eltonte Leonard and Jayson Sandy. On the female side we have high hopes for both Zariel Nelson and Caitlin Polius to shine with multiple medals. We wish all our young athletes the best of luck and are confident they will represent SVG with pride and dignity as they strive to do their very best,” the release said.
The Vincentians athlete’s participation has received financial support from the National Lottery, FLOW and the SVG Olympic Committee.