The St. Thomas Stingrays swim team happily cheered, “Eat our bubbles!” at their friendly rivals, the St. Croix Dolphins, May 8 as the teams competed at the Dolphins home pool at the St. Croix Country Day School for the Virgin Islands Swimming Federation Long Course Championships, the last swim meet of the season.
Members of the community and both St. Thomas and St. Croix parents enjoyed the day as Stingrays coach Joey Hamilton and his team competed with the Dolphins. Eight swimmers representing St. Thomas proved that they could dominate the much larger and well establish St. Croix Dolphins team.
Agathe Emeran won first place overall in the girls 8-and-under age group after winning first in all her events.
Sasha Klein took first place in the girls 9-10 age group, and came only two-tenths of a second shy of breaking the 30-year old record in the 50-meter freestyle. In the past she set three records in the 8-and-under group and has now won first place in the VISF Championships for both Short Course and Long Course for the last three straight years in her age groups.
She says her goal is to represent the Virgin Islands in the 2016 Olympics.
Hannah Clements won third overall in the girls 9-10 age group.
Julianna De Haas, who recently competed in the CARIFTA games in Jamaica, won first place in the girls 13-14 age group. Her teammate, Portia Norkaitus, won second in that age group.
All the Stingrays recorded personal best times, including Shaw Clements, Marcus Norkaitis, and Mykhal Rabsatt.
The St. Thomas Swimming Association runs Learn to Swim and swim team programs for both children and adults. More information regarding swimming in St. Thomas and the Stingrays swim team is available by contacting Executive Director Joey Hamilton at 779-7872 or info@sttswimming.org.
