MAY 5, 2005

2006 JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP DIVES INTO ACTION

The Amateur Swimming Association’s 2006 Junior Swimming Championships dove into action tonight and after six (6) events, the Tornadoes Swim Club held a slim three (3) point lead, scoring 364 points. Rivals Y-Speedos Swim Club is in second place with 361 and Blue Seal Swim Club third with 114 points.

National representatives Dominic Lee (Tornadoes Swim Club) and Matthew Hilton (Y-Speedos) ignited the crowd with a fantastic battle in the Men’s open 200 M Breaststroke. Although Lee had a faster seed time, Hilton showed good speed from the start. At the 100 M turn, Lee touched first (1:17.27) but Hilton was on his shoulder just .6 seconds behind. With 25 meters to go, only a whisker separated the two and the crowd rose to their feet. Closing in on the wall, Lee managed to pull slightly ahead to touch first in a new Meet Record time of 2:38.23 and Hilton just half an arms length behind in a personal best time of 2:38.54. The previous record holder Dave Smith (Tornadoes) took the Bronze Medal swimming 2:46.97.

Simone Hunter (Y-Speedos), in her first meet after swimming a personal best 2:59.86 at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships, took the Gold Medal in the Female Open 200 M Breaststroke timing a respectable 3:13.38. Her teammate Lanesa Down swam a personal best 3:16.40 to take the Silver and Gillian Millwood made a Y-Speedos clean sweep taking the Bronze in 3:17.78.

Dominique Dawson (Tornadoes) led from the start and won the 800 M Freestyle in 10:42.84. Gillian Millwood won her second medal of the night taking the silver in 10:53.74 while Doneisha McKenzie claimed the Bronze by lowering her personal best time by 34 seconds to 11:20.12.

In the Men’s Open 1500 M Freestyle, all three medalists swam faster than the meet record with Y-Speedos Ramon Walton taking the Gold in a personal best 17:50.93, Tornadoes Dominic Walter the Silver in a personal best 17:58.43 and Brad Hamilton (Tornadoes) the silver in 18:18.04. Walton and Walter were both satisfied with their personal best times after their disappointing CARIFTA results when both suffered from flu symptoms.

The competition continues at the National Stadium Pool on Saturday morning at 8:30 AM.