ALIA ATKINSON BREAKS 50 M FREE AGE GROUP RECORD

Alia Atkinson once again showed her sprinting ability when she broke the female Jamaican National 11-12 50 M Freestyle Age Group Record in the preliminary heats of the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships being held in Santo Domingo. Alia’s time of 28.66 erased her own record of 28.73 and carried her into the final just .01 second behind the top qualifier.

The session was marred by a major failure of the timing system, forcing Officials to resort to hand times in most events and causing lengthy delays. The session finished 90 minutes late.

The following are the results for this mornings preliminary heats (as the results for some events have not been posted at the time of this report, a number of times are not available – finalists were announced over the public address system):                                                         

Swimmers making finals:

18 and Over 200 M Backstroke                 Angela Chuck - 2:30.73              

                                                            Ramon James – 2:21.59

11-12 50 M Freestyle -                            Alia Atkinson – 28.66

18 and Over 200 M Freestyle                   Janelle Atkinson – 2:04.42

                                                            Angela Chuck – 2:11.89

13-14 400 M Individual Medley                 Allison Bardowell (actual time not available)

                                                            Dominic Lee (actual time not available)

 Other results:

13-14 50 M Freestyle (female)                 Allison Bardowell 28.93 (10^th) second alternate

                                                            Raine Paulson Andrews 28.96 (11^th)

(male)               Dominic Lee 26.03 (9^th)

                                                            Todd Johnson 26.55 (17^th) – personal best

11-12 50 M Freestyle (male)                   Brad Hamilton 28.62 (13^th)

                                                            John-Claude Wright 29.58 (17^th)

15-15 200 M Freestyle                            Andrew Saunders 2:04.36

                                                            Jevon Atkinson 2:05.08

11-12 200 M Breaststroke                       Alia Atkinson (did not final – time not avail)

July 5, 2001 - 1430 EST