The U.S. Virgin Islands had a delegation of sent swimmers between the ages of 11-17 and three officials to participate at the XXXII CARIFTA Aquatic Championships 2017, a four-day annual age group aquatic championship for the Caribbean region. (Caribbean Free Trade Association: CARIFTA)
This year, it was held from April 15-18 in Nassau, Bahamas. The V.I. National team consisted of swimmers from the St. Croix Dolphins and the St. Thomas Stingrays. The team members were: Audrey Moore (age 12), Casey Vanderwall (12), Gabriella Brunt (11), Brianna Mattis (12), Victoria Sperber (11), Fairly Maltby (11), Lindsay Barr (11), Max Wilson (12), Jaidan Camacho (12), Michael Dizon-Bumann (12), Kyra Odlum (14), Carter Maltby (13), Natalia Kuipers (14), Erin Andrews (13), Erin Hughes (14), Ky Odlum (14) and Webster Bozzo (17).
They were accompanied by Coach John Vasbinder, Coach Brian Brady and team manager Cinthia Sanes. Over 400 swimmers from 26 Caribbean countries participated in this event. National swimmers from the U.S.V.I. competed in up to seven individual events and up to four different relays, during the four-day competition. Preliminary sessions took place each morning, and final sessions took place each evening.
Highlights of the meet:
4 New Relay Records:
400 freestyle relay: 11-12 girls age group category (Lindsay Barr, Casey Vanderwall, Gabriella Brunt, and Audrey Moore) — time: 4:25.85
400 medley relay: 11-12 girls age group category (Victoria Sperber, Casey Vanderwall, Gabriella Brunt and Audrey Moore) — time: 5:14.96
200 mixed free relay: 11-12 age group category (Max Wilson, Casey Vanderwall, Michael Dizon-Bumann and Audrey Moore) — time: 4:13.47
800 freestyle relay: 13-14 girls age group category (Natalia Kuipers, Erin Hughes, Kyra Odlum and Carter Maltby) — time: 9:37.89
7 New Individual V.I. Records:
Audrey Moore set V.I. records in the 11-12 girls age group category 200m freestyle with a time of 2:15.55; in the 100m freestyle with a time of 1:01.97; and in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:45.67.
Max Wilson set V.I. records in the 11-12 boys age group category 50m backstroke with a time of 31.54; and in the 400m Individual medley with a time of 5:27.54.
Ky Odlum set V.I. records in the 13-14 boys age group category 50m butterfly with a time of 27.57; and in the 50m freestyle with a time of 25.78.
Medal count for the VI:
Audrey Moore: two medals (two bronze)
Max Wilson: three medals (two gold, one silver)
200 Mixed Relay: one medal (one bronze) (Max Wilson, Casey Vanderwall, Michael Dizon-Bumann and Audrey Moore)
Many of the swimmers swam in final qualifying races with individual events or with the relay events, scoring points for the team. The Virgin Islands National Swim Team earned 10th place over all in the competition out of 26 countries participating. Every V.I. swimmer gave 100 percent in and out of the pool, accomplishing amazing results.
The next high level international swim meet is the CCCAN Swimming Championships 2017 to be held in Trinidad from June 28 to July 2.
For full results of the Carifta Games, visit www.bahamasswimmingfederation.com. Contact Coach John Vasbinder at 244-7657, Coach Brian Brady at 856-776-6794 or Cinthia Sanes at 719-7946. E-mail stcroixdolphins@gmail.com and jvasbinder@live.com.
