The last day saw fast swimming with nearly all of the team
having season best times. In the 45-49 category it was Lee
against his arch -rival Richard Knaggs of Trinity Masters in
the 50 meter freestyle. Throughout most of the race it seemed
that Lee would hold off his competitor from the twin island
republic but Knaggs made a desperate lunge at the very end of
the race to grab a marginal victory of 27.99 to Lee's 28.09
In the 40-44 age group which was the most competitive
category Lowe and Bair found it hard going against the swift
Brazilians and their neighbours from the Eastern Caribbean .In
the first of of two heats Lowe placed second in a season best
29.29 to Peter Richards of JE Security Masters Barbados. Lowe
hopes to build on this performance for his races for the rest of
the year utilizing a better distance per stroke style. Bair
still recuperating from a bad shoulder seeded with a faster time
than Lowe found the pace too hot handle in his first meet of the
year and finished in a creditable 30.03 . The eventual winner
was surprise, surprise, Ricardo Santos in 24.71 the event's
fastest time , followed by Trinity's Bruce Kaufman in 25.84 and
fellow Brazilian Sergio Ulloa in 26.48
In the 19-24 the script followed the seedings with Gittens
first "Tony" second and Fernandez of Venezuela third. The only
twist was that "Tony' was the only one of the three to finish in
a new PB of 26.17 chopping .12 off his old record for his second
personal record of the meet.
In the 160-199 200 meter medley (age groups formed from the
total of each swimmer's age) disaster struck the team of Marsh,
Lowe , Lee and Bair (exact relay order). they were disqualified
because Marsh dove into the water instead of entering feet
first, a rule many found needed immediate reviewing.
In the 200meter freestyle relay the team same team (relay
order Lee, Lowe , Bair and Marsh) did well with the first three
doing splits faster than their individual races and a energized
Marsh anchoring in 28 low for a total time of 1:55.89. They
finished behind the Brazilians anchored by Santos in 1:42.16 the
fastest time for the meet and the Trinity Masters 1:50.39.
So at the end of the 7th Latycar Masters the Jamaican
contingent finished with six Gold, six Silver and three Bronze.
Submitted by Tony Morrison.