Yorke achieves qualifying mark for CAC Games

KAEL YORKE of Tidal Wave Aquatics achieved a qualifying time for the forthcoming Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, when he swum the 100-metre butterfly final on Day Two of the National Open Long Course Championships at the National Aquatic Centre, Balmain, Couva.

Swimming out of lane four in Friday night’s final, Yorke touched the wall in 54.84 seconds and surpassed the CAC qualifying time of 55.02, and the meet record of 55.26 which he set in Thursday night’s preliminaries. This swim also produced a Youth Olympics Games (YOG) “A” and a CCCAN qualifying time. Mark Anthony Beckles of Flying Fish got silver in 57.23, with Aqeel Joseph of Sea Hawks took bronze in 59.53.

Ornella Walker of Tobago YMCA achieved a YOG “B” qualifying time in the 50m backstroke, stopping the clock on 30.28 seconds to win gold. Jahmia Harley of Tidal Wave earned silver in 32.05 with her teammate Gabrielle Vickles taking bronze in 33.39.

In the 1500m freestyle, Graham Chatoor won gold in a meet record of 16:49.07. He smashed his own 2016 record of 17:08.55. Opening night national record breaker Nikoli Blackman took the silver in 18:01.97 and Tidal Wave’s Delroy Tyrell got bronze in 18:40.22. On Thursday night Chatoor won the 800 free in a meet record of 8:53.06.