Nine more CCCAN spots earned at National Open Championships

Nine swimmers qualified for the 2022 Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Championships at the National Open Long Course Championships over the weekend.

The qualifiers include Nikoli Blackman, Johann-Matthew Matamoro, Josiah Parag, Mark Anthony Beckles, Christian Awah, Cadell Lyons (boys), Cherelle Thompson, Ornella Walker and Jahmia Harley (girls).

The CCCAN meet will be held in July in Barbados.

Blackman qualified for three more events – men’s 200 metre freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m free and 50m butterfly – after securing a CCCAN spot in the 100m free on Thursday.

In the 200m, Blackman won the 200m event in one minute, 56.73 seconds (1:56.73) and dipped below the CCCAN qualifying time of 1:57.43. He beat Marlins clubmate Zachary Wilson (2:03.73) and Liam Carrington (2:08.92), respectively.

He also bettered the 1:02.06 standard in the 100m back by winning in 1:00.88. Also securing CCCAN qualification were silver medallist Matamoro (1:00.89) and bronze recipient Parag (1:01.13).

And in the 50m fly, Awah (24.67s), Lyons (24.76s), Blackman (25.37s) and Beckles (25.44s) all qualified by dipping under the 25.55s standard.

Blackman (23.36s) and Beckles (23.68s) also booked tickets to Barbados in the 50m free prelims after finishing first and second, respectively. The CCCAN standard here is 23.82s.

TT Olympic swimmer Thompson also secured a national team spot in the women’s 50m butterfly as she won in 29.04s and bettered the qualifying standard of 29.50s. Thompson beat to the line silver medallist DeNicha Lewis (30.08s) and bronze receiver Amari Ash (30.45s).

Also on Saturday, Walker and Harley finished one-two in the women’s 100m backstroke to book CCCAN spots. Walker won in 1:05.94 and Harley clocked 1:08.47, both going below the 1:08.59 CCCAN requirement.

And on Sunday, Thompson secured a national team place in the CCCAN 50m free. She clocked 26.21s in the women’s preliminary event, finishing ahead of the 27.09s standard.