St Vincent’s Black Sands Swim Squad swimmers had another opportunity to demonstrate their aquatic excellence at the Barbados National Swimming Championships, which took place from Feb 24-28.
Swimmers Jamie, Alex and Shné Joachim, Mya and Aaron Defreitas, Cruz Halbich and Shane Cadogan got into medal winning mode and took on the Bajan swimmers in record breaking style.
Shné Joachim destroyed the Bajan competition and swam herself into the Barbados record books by breaking the 50 meter Breaststroke record in a time of 35.03 seconds. She demonstrated that she is one of the region’s best female breaststroke swimmers and came home with a three gold medals.
Her younger brother, Alex Joachim, followed suit, swimming a total of 10 personal best times, which won him three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Younger sister Jamie Joachim swam to family tradition and won two bronze medals and produced three personal best times over the four-day competition.
Siblings Aaron and Mya Defreitas swam themselves onto the medal podium.
Mya brought home one bronze medal accompanied by five personal best times. Aaron swam himself to two Silver and three bronze medals, with three personal best swims, competing in the boys 13 to 14 age group.
Aaron also achieved a Carifta qualifying time in the 50 meters freestyle.
Long distance King, Cruz Halbich beat his personal best time by 27 seconds in the 1,500 meter freestyle, winning himself a gold medal accompanied by a silver and two bronze medals.
Shane Cadogan, one of St Vincent’s leading academic, demonstrated that he doesn’t only excel in the classroom.
Shane challenged the Barbadians in 11 events and proudly brought home a total of three gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
The next regional swimming competition will be the CARIFTA games in Martinique at the end of March.