ALIA ATKINSON TAKES BRONZE IN 50 M FREE AT SOUTHERN ZONE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2001 edition of the Southern Zone Championships (31st July to August 4) will have two Jamaicans representing the Florida Gold Coast All Stars in Adi Atkinson and his sister Alia. This swim meet represents the best of each Local Swimming Committee's (LSC) swimmers in the South of the United States so the quality of the swims as well as the swimmers is at a very high standard. 

First up was Alia Atkinson who competed on the second day of the championships in the 100 metre Freestyle and the 50 metre Butterfly. She qualified  for the final of the 100 M Freestyle in a time of 1:03.17 seeding 5th  but missed further glory by missing the finals of the 50 M Butterfly by 24/100ths of a second in a time of 32.10. Later in the evening, in the finals of the 100 M Free, Alia bettered her time but it was only good enough for 8th place . She took the  race out harder than the morning heats going 30.33 at the half way mark and bringing it home in 32.69 for a total time of 1:03.02.Still a fine performance for a young swimmer who has done tremendously well this summer.

On the third day of competition Alia swum well to register a 4th seeding going into the evening's finals of the 50 metre freestyle with a time of 29.07. She moved up a place to capture the Bronze later that evening in a time 28.33 just .10 sec. off her national record set at CCCAN earlier this summer. She would have to swum under 27.31 to beat Jule Smith and take the title. Her time also puts her under the consideration time (28.79) which USS uses to determine a top 16 in each group .