Aqua Warriors duo among Long Course medals

Two members of the Tobago YMCA Aqua warriors, Ornella Walker and Jacob Cox, competed at the ASATT National Open Long Course Championships which took place from May 10-13 at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva.

Walker won gold in the 11 and Over 50-metre backstroke event, stopping the clock in 30.28 seconds, beating Tidal Wave Aquatics duo Jahmia Harley (32.05) and Gabrielle Vickles (33.39). Walker’s final time of 30.28 was a Youth Olympic Games ‘B’ qualifying time achievement and also a CCCAN ‘A’ qualifying time for the upcoming 2018 swimming championships.

Cox claimed bronze in the 10 and Under 100-metre breaststroke event, clocking a personal best time of 1:31.14, behind Zachary Anthony of Marlins Swim Club (1:30.97) and Anpherne Bernard of Tidal Wave Aquatics (1:28.82).

Aqua Warriors expressed gratitude to the Division of Sports and Youth Affairs for their support of the young swimmers.

On Sunday, Kael Yorke continued his success in the butterfly events, setting a new meet record in the 200m butterfly.

Swimming in the preliminaries, Yorke stopped the clock in two minutes 7.15 seconds, to erase his old record of 2:10.03. He eventually scratched from the evening final which was won by Malik Nelson of Atlantis Aquatics in 2:25.23.

On Friday night, Yorke established a new meet record of 54.84, which was also a qualifying time for the CAC games.

Zachary Anthony, the 10-and-Under standout, followed up on his double win on Saturday night, with a triple gold medal haul on Sunday evening. Anthony won gold in the 10-and-Under 200m Individual Medley (2:46.94), 50m butterfly (32.53) and the 50m freestyle (29.96). Giovanni Rivas (Unattached) stopped Anthony’s gold medal run, as he won the 100m backstroke in 1:18.72, ahead of Anthony in 1:21.11.

Keryn Burke of Atlantis also had a triple win on the night, taking the 10-and-Under 50m butterfly (34.24), 50m freestyle (32.09) and the 100m backstroke (1:22.65). Like Anthony, Burke had only one silver on the night as Shauna Nelson of Tidal Wave Aquatics won the 200 IM in 2:57.96 ahead of Burke in 3:00.46.

Marlins Swim Club member Jada Chatoor picked up a couple of open female gold medals when she won the 200m butterfly (2:35.28) and the 400m freestyle (4:39.03).

The CCCAN team was chosen on Monday as the council and swim committee of the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) met.