Wickham: Expect surprise TT performances

BRIAN Wickham, head coach of TT’s junior swimmers, who are preparing for the Carifta Aquatics Championships swimming events in Barbados, says his charges are well equipped to improve from last year’s fourth place overall finish.

There may even be some pleasant surprises from championship debutants, including Giovanni Rivas (boys 11-12 division) and others, who have trained tirelessly ahead of the competition.

Wickham, speaking with Newsday yesterday, said those who did well last year are expected to continue their prowess in the pool as they move up in the age categories.

“Our goal is definitely to go to Carifta to win. That’s the mindset that we have. That’s what we’ve been telling our swimmers. And, if we don’t win, we want to make it back into the top three,” Wickham said.

Zarek Wilson, Nikoli Blackman and Zoe Anthony – three swimmers who stood out in the boys and girls 11-12 age groups last year – will challenge the 13-14 age division, the age group which can be reasonably considered the core of the 35-member squad.

Anthony, along with Blackman, Josiah Changar, Jada Chatoor and Malik Nelson will compete in both the pool and open water swim, the latter of which will take place on Wednesday.

The swimming events will begin with heats on Friday morning, before the opening ceremony takes place at 5.30 pm. Heats will run during the morning sessions each day from 9 am, with finals every evening, starting at 6 pm, followed by the closing ceremony on Tuesday night.

“I can tell you, from what’s been going on at the sessions – what we have done, seeing that there are a number of swimmers who would have been placed on the team with (Carifta) C standards – we have intensified our national training.

“So in years gone past we’ve had one session per week, we’ve been doing three national training sessions per week right now and we’ve seen tremendous improvement, and we expect swimmers like Zarek to maintain his superior performances. We’re also looking at Nikoli Blackman, who has been training exceptionally well. We have Marquise Nelson (open water), who has also been training exceptionally well. We have been able to recognise and gauge the transition from the long course meet to now. We do expect to see a number of persons step up to the plate.”

The aim, he said, is to see TT improve from their fourth place finish over the past two years, and return to the top of the standings, where they were a few years prior.

Expectations are naturally high of Wilson, the Presentation College San Fernando student, who exceeded expectations at last year’s Carifta in Jamaica, where he won an unprecedented nine gold medals and one silver. One of his golden performances included a (boys 11-12) record-breaking 400m freestyle final, in which he clocked 4:27.78.

Wilson also won the 100m and 200m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke, 200m and 400m IM, 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke and took silver in the 100m butterfly.

Blackman, Wilson’s friend and team-mate in the same division – who finished above him (Wilson) in the individual points tally at February’s Long Course Swim Championship – is expected to secure a number of podium finishes, as he also did in Jamaica last year.

Anthony, meanwhile, stood out among the girls in the youngest age division, taking a top podium finish in the 200m breaststroke, before helping her 11-12 boys and girls team to a record-breaking 4x100m mixed relay gold. She and Blackman have impressed at open water events over the past year, including gold medal wins at the CCCAN Swimming Championships 3K, in Aruba, and should pose a challenge in their respective categories.

The open water swimmers – apart from those who will also challenge the conventional swimming events – will arrive in Barbados Monday.

Swim team:

Girls 11-12: Amelia Rajack, Amari Ash, Madara Edwards, Lyla Browne and Joy Blackett.

Boys 11-12: Giovanni Rivas and Zachary Anthony.

Girls 13-14: Gabrielle Vickles, Zoe Anthony, Neishalah Caseman, Arielle Dickson, Naomi Walters and Caitlyn Look Fong.

Boys 13-14: Zarek Wilson, Nikoli Blackman, Kadon Williams, Josiah Changar, Johann-Matthew Matamoro, Kyle West, Riquelio Joseph and Aron Stuart.

Girls 15-17: Danielle Williams, Deshor Edwards, Jada Chatoor, AnneLiese Merry, Jada Chai, Vrisnelit Faure, Brianna Bocage and Gabriela Donahue.

Boys 15-17: Gabriel Bynoe, Aqeel Joseph, Malik Nelson, Delroy Tyrrell, Luke Gillette and William Reyes.

Officials:

Brian Wickham (head coach), Mark Alexis (assistant coach), Sharntelle McLean (assistant coach), Lilas Solomon-Stuart (chaperone), Keith Matamoro (chaperone), Bertrand Blackman (manager).

Open water team:

14-15 Girls: Zoe Anthony

14-15 Boys: Nikoli Blackman, Marquise Nelson and Josiah Changar

16-18 Girls: Jada Chatoor, Gabriella Acosta and Dominique Nurse-Allen

16-18 Boys: Malik Nelson, Jared DeSilva and Adam Suite

Officials: Maurice Faria (head coach), Bertrand Blackman (manager).