The Antigua and Barbuda Swimming Federation (ABSF) has named a 31-member national team to represent the country at the 30th Annual OECS Swimming Championships slated for November 11-13 at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre in St Lucia.
The team is comprised of Kaylee Warner, the sole female in the Girls 8 & Under category, while Zane Williams, Christopher Walter and Mkazo Lindsay will compete for the boys in the same age category. In the 9-10 age category, Anya De Gannes and Keziah Joseph represent for the girls while Jamie Tranter and Alessandro Bazzoni will represent the boys.
The girls’ 11-12 age group consists of Davina Barton, Isabelle Bremmer and Mila Festini-Cromer while the boys’ equivalent consist of Reuben Edwards, Espriit Shaw and Zahid Derrick. Aungelique Liddie, Ellie Shaw, Alandra Dublin and Madison MacMillan will represent the girls in the 13-14 category while Tivon Benjamin, Davien Barton, Neil Sherwin-Noronja will represent the boys.
The 15-17 age group is comprised of Angelique Gittens, Kimberlee Warner and Annachiara Bazzoni with Tony Goodwin, Naeem DeSouza, Zardad Jan and Manav Sinhi competing for the boys.
There will be one male and two females in the 18 & over age group with Bianca Mitchell and Anisa Lewis representing the girls and J’Air Smith swimming for the boys. Mitchell and Smith were selected as team captains.
Daniela Casmiro-Shaw and Laurilyn Dublin will travel as chaperones with Edith Clashing as technical director.
The team will be coach by Wayne Mitchell with Nelson Molina Fojo and Mark Mitchell deputising.
“Although the team is filled with a lot of young and new swimmers, they are all focussed and eager to compete. Unfortunately, some of our top swimmers are away at school and were not able to travel for the meet, so that had an impact on our older age groups. However, we will still have a competitive squad in the younger age groups, and we look forward to seeing how they perform on the larger stage,” coach Wayne said.
According to the ABSF president, Dr Derek Marshall, “Following the successful hosting of our 7th Annual Club Invitational, the selection committee met and chose 31 swimmers to represent Antigua and Barbuda in St Lucia. The team composition highlights our younger talent and is reflective of the future of swimming in Antigua and Barbuda.”
ABSF treasurer and team manager Kem Warner commented: “We will be missing a relay team in the 10 and under girls category and this may have an impact on whether we achieve overall first place or settle for second or third place position. However, since our team is comprised of talented swimmers in the younger age group categories, this may motivate them to exceed our expectation since many of them will have points to prove.
The 30th edition of the OECS Swimming Championships is being hosted by the Saint Lucia Swimming Federation and all member states of the OECS have been invited. The competition will be conducted in accordance with FINA rules in force at the start of the competition.
Defending champions, Grenada, will be hoping to secure a sixth consecutive title, while Antigua and Barbuda, who placed fourth in 2019, will hoping to secure one of the top three placement.