Carrington, Blackman bag four gold each at ASATT long course

LIAM Carrington (Petrotrin Barracudas Swim Club) and Nikoli Blackman (Marlin Swim Club) captured four gold medals each on day-two of the Amateur Swimming Association of TT Age Group Long Course Championships which continued at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva on Friday.

Carrington splashed to gold in the boys’ 11-12 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.

The youngster opened his account with a 1:00.74 clocking in the 100m free followed by RWB Aquatic Academy’s Anpherne Bernard (1:03.11) and Point Fortin Aqua Darts’ Darren Belfon (1:0.44) respectively.

In the 50m backstroke, he stopped the clock on 32.28s. Claiming second place was Bernard (33.35s) once more while Tidal Wave Aquatics’ Jannia Applewhite (34.24s) finished third.

He then splashed to gold in the 400m IM in 5:34.56. Carrington finished ahead of eventual silver medallist Applewhite (6:07.87) and Eagle Aquatics bronze receiver Marcus Alexander (6:19.59).

Carrington then touched the wall in 2:40.81 in the 200m butterfly. He beat to the line Marlins Swim Club’s Rylan Thomas (3:18.31) and Adam Scoon (3:20.46) respectively.

Additionally, Blackman topped the field in boys’ 15-17 100m when she clocked 52.60s. She successfully held off close competition from Malik Nelson (Atlantis Aquatics) and Aaron Stuart (Blue Dolphins) respectively. Nelson touched the wall in 53.56s while Stuart got home in 54.56s. In the 100m breaststroke, the Marlins swimmer finished first in 1:08.33, holding off silver recipient Kyle and club-mate West (1:09.51) and bronze placed Riquelio Joseph (Atlantis Aquatics/1:13.01).

And in the 400m IM, Blackman clocked 4:59.56 and defeated lone opponent and fellow Marlins representative Josiah Changar (5:08.52). Blackman (2:16.47) completed her four-medal sweep with a victory in the 200m butterfly. Tidal Wave’s Stachys Harley (2:27.72) and Changar (2:29.45) completed the top-three respectively.

The ASATT long course is the first official ASATT-sanctioned meet in over a year owing to the pandemic.

The tourney is being held without spectators and under the Government’s mandatory health requirements. This event is a FINA-sanctioned meet and also serves as a qualifier for the Tokyo Games and Junior Pan American Championships, later this year.

The four-day meet concludes on Sunday.