WEST INDIANS DO WELL IN FLORIDA
By
Anthony Morrison-Vincent
February 14,
2005
West Indian
colours shone brightly at the Florida High School Championships with some
eye-popping times by the region’s best young swimmers.
As expected it was Caribbean’s
newly minted Olympians Barbados’ Bradley Ally, Cayman
Islands Shaune Fraser and Alia Atkinson of Jamaica who
showed why they are in a class by themselves with dominating pool performances.
It is that swimmer from the country with the broken trident we must make
mention of first and that of course is Bradley Ally. The Bajan swimmer created
history for the Caribbean when he broke the
national high school record in the 200 yard Individual Medley. He is now the fastest
high schooler in the event whether from a private or public school in the
entire United States of America.
On his way to high school immortality in the class 3A Championships finals he
left behind the state record of 1:47.13(2:03.85) set by Bolles Alex Lopez in
1996 and the former national record of 1:46.90 (2:03.58) by Jason Alexander of
Carmel Indiana set two years earlier with his awesome mark of 1:46.31(2:02.90).
When one compares the splits one sees from the sounding of the gun Ally was Lancaster’s’ better in
area of the mulitstroke event.
|
|
Butterfly
|
Backstroke
|
Breaststroke
|
Freestyle
|
|
Lancaster
|
24.26 (27.41)
|
27.77
(31.92)
|
32.09
(37.10)
|
26.77 (30.77)
|
|
Ally
|
22.84
(25.81)
|
26.59
(30.56)
|
31.04
(35.88)
|
25.84 (29.70)
|
It is
interesting to note from a West Indian point of view both at the high school
and collegiate level the records are held by Caribbean
nationals, Ally the high school record holder and Athens Olympic 200 I.M. Bronze medalist Trinidad and Tobago’s George Bovell
in both yards and short course meters the latter incidentally is a WORLD RECORD
which speaks volumes of the talent in the region.
Bradley also
collected two other gold medals in the 100 yard breastroke and the 200 yard
medley relay. In the breastroke he clocked 54.79(1:03.34) in the finals but in
the preliminaries clocked 54.72(1:03.72)
25.78(29.80) at the split which established a new state record .In the
class 3A finals it was St Thomas Aquinas
that took the title based on the blistering butterfly leg of Bradley.
The young Bajan teamed up with Kyle Coan 24.26(27.89) backstroke, Joey Pedraza
26.19(30.28) breastroke and Daniel Rojas 22.07(25.23) to win the title. After
the first 2 legs St Thomas Aquinas were behind 51.05 to 50.96 Winter Park, then
an explosive 21.40(24.18) by Ally blew the race wide open breezing past Winter
Park’s Steve Sullivan 24.23(27.38) to ensure the win.1:34.52 (1:49.27) to
1:37.26 (1:42.44).
New Caribbean import Shaune Fraser was also as dominant
though not breaking any records for his new alma mater Bolles. In the 200yard
freestyle put clear water between himself and teammate Alex Martin 1:42.43(1:57.40)
by posting 1:37.50 (1:51.43)with a split time of 47.43(54.52). In the 500 yard
freestyle he was equally as dominant in stopping the clock at 4:27.05(4:01.67) 1:44.37 (1:59.28) split again beating
another teammate Yi-Khy Saw who clocked 4:31.11 (4:05.35). Fraser also helped
Bolles to two good relay victories. In the 400 yard relay he teamed up with
teammates Martin 47.89(55.05), Saw 47.02(54.05) and Matt Brock46.10 (52.990 to
anchor them in the fastest split of the meet an impressive 45.51 (52.31). They
clocked a total time of 3:06.52. The time was outside the state and national
record of 3:01.80 a team that featured two time Bajan Olympian and fellow
Bolles alumnus Damian Alleyne. Fraser again had the fastest split in the 200
yard freestyle when he anchored the team of Martin 21.96 (25.25) , Michael
Lewis 21.86 (25.13) ,Travis Bishop 21.66 (24.90) to victory with a split of
20.62 (23.70)
Alia Atkinson
proved that Olympic qualification was no fluke when she blitzed the field in
100-yard breast stroke. She went out in a sizzling 29.65 seconds (34.08 ) that
had S. Kazynskic of Douglas 31.66 (36.39) and B. Thomas 31.23 (35.90) of St.
Thomas Aquinas floundering. Alia then brought it home in 1:02.66 seconds
(1:12.02) more than three seconds ahead of the podium party as S. Kazynskic finished in 1:06.55 (1:16.49) and B. Thomas
in 1:06.66(1:16.62). Alia with no real competition just missed the 3A and state
record of Tori Da Silvia 1:02.35 (1:11.65) of Boca Raton.
In the 100
free Alia again took out the race hard in 24.55 (27.90) burning up Brittany
Selts of Miami Palmetto who also went out in 24.94 (28.34) but could not hold
onto the fiery pace set by the Comet Swim Club Olympian. Second place Diane Gu
of Lake Mercy
had a fast finish of 26.24 (29.82) but it was the Caribbean
champion who out split the field with her last 50 free of 26.09 (29.65). Final
times Alia Atkinson, Flanagan 50.64 (57.55). Gu51.29 (58.28).
For any comments or views email me @ thawkeyes@hotmail.com or phil_research@yahoo.com.