The St. Croix Dolphins swim team hosted its 26th Annual Invitational May 23-25. Swimmers from the St. Croix Dolphins, St. Eustacius Stingrays, St. Maarten Supersplash and Silver Streaks Swim Club from New York competed against one another and got to know each other as friends. Special guests at the meet included Senate President Usie Richards, who gave the welcoming speech at the opening ceremony, St. Croix Administrator Pedro Encarcion, Sen.Neville James, Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, Acting Superintendent of Schools Gary Molloy, and Commissioners Lynn A. Millin Maduro, St. Claire Williams and Brad Nugent. Senator James Weber, a long-time Dolphin parent and supporter, announced each race, giving accounts of the races as they were taking place.
The following swimmers scored the most points in their age group, earning High Point awards:
Jemille Vialet–age 16 (15-17 year old champion) /male/Dolphin
Lauren Lewis–age 15 (15-17 year old champion) /female/ Dolphin
Bryson Mays–age 13 (13-14 year old champion) /male/Dolphin
Caylee Watson–age 13 (13-14 year old champion) /female/ Dolphin
Evan Warehime–age 11 (11-12 year old champion) /male/ Dolphin
Reena Tarver–age 11 (11-12 year old champion) /female/ Dolphin
Tony Hendricks–age 10 (9-10 year old champion) /male/Dolphin
JJ Washshah–age 10 (9-10 year old champion) / female/Dolphin
Jonathan Thomas–age 8 (8 years and younger champion) /male/Dolphin
Andrea Steinberg –age 8 (8 and years and younger champion) /female/Dolphin
The Dolphins won the Overall Team High Point with a total of 1,969 points. Second place went to the Silver Streaks with 338 points and the St. Maarten Super Splash came in third.
Outstanding individual swims were accomplished by:
· Caylee Watson and Melissa Acevedo who dropped over 50 seconds each in the 400 freestyle. Caylee took 51 seconds off her previous best. Melissa dropped 1 minute 12 seconds
· J.J. Washshah’s 200 freestyle, which was swum in a time of 2:58.53, taking 9 seconds off her personal best
· Gloria Morales and Melissa Acevedo swimming best times in the 200 freestyle. Gloria took off 14 seconds and Melissa dropped 26 seconds off their best times. Melissa also dropped 17 seconds off her previous personal best in the 100 breaststroke
· Tony Hendricks dropping 14 seconds of his 50 backstroke best time
· Brigittee Rasmussen taking 7 seconds off her best 50 freestyle time and swimming the 200 butterfly for the first time
· Evan Warehime dropped time in all of his races
· Jemille Vialet breaking the 26 second mark in the 50 freestyle with at time of 25.90
· Jonathan Thomas swimming fast in the 50 free earning a time of 39.53
· J.J. Washshah as a 10 year old going a 31.98 in the 50 free
· Jake Barnwell with two best times in a row in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:58.02 and 100 butterfly in a time of 1:29.32
· Sam Shogren best time in the mile by 21 seconds
· Gloria Morales fantastic swims in the 800 freestyle and 400 Individual Medley-two events she had never swum
· Jordan Bates took 12 seconds off his previous best 200 breaststroke time
· Cassandra Ceballos dropped 17 seconds off of her 100 butterfly time
· Bryson Mays dropped 11 seconds off his best time in the 100 breaststroke. He also took two off his 100 freestyle best time in an excellent race with Devontai Stevens. Devontai dropped 2 seconds off his best time in that race.
· Jan Steinberg dropped 3 seconds off his 50 free
· Marcia Marsh dropped 3 seconds off her 50 free
· Adriel Sanes dropped 4 seconds off his 50 fly
· Matthew Mays dropped 3 seconds of his 50 backstroke
· Matthew Low dropped 5 seconds from his 50 backstroke
· Tyler Zuyus dropped 7 seconds off his 100 freestyle
· Natasha Ceballos dropped 3 seconds off her 50 freestyle
Future public events for the Dolphins include Kids’ Night Out from 6:30-9 p.m., on Wednesday, June 4, for any child age 5-13 years old.
The annual Dolphins community raffle has begun! Gifts include free stays at the Buccaneer Resort, round trip tickets on Cape Air and Liat Air, a 23" television, boom boxes, fishing trips, an MP 3 player and a fishing trip valued at $500. The raffle will be held at the Dolphins Annual Swim Team Banquet on Sunday, June 1. Tickets are available from swimmers or by calling 719-SWIM. All are welcome to attend the banquet, which costs $15 per non-swimmers.
The Dolphins invite any new swimmers and parents who might be interested in the team to contact them at either 719-7946 or dolphinscoach@islands.vi
Confidential financial assistance is available upon request. No swimmer is ever turned away due to inability to pay at the Dolphins.
