Ronaldo Rodrigues of the Silver Shark Aquatic Swim Club captured nine races to dominate his age category and help secure a convincing victory for his club at the Orca Speed Swim Club interclub swim meet last Saturday at the Colgrain Pool.
The 12-year-old won every race he competed in regardless of the stroke or distance which certainly made him the most successful swimmer of the competition. Rodrigues had been challenged in some cases by his club-mate Serrano Gonzales who consistently followed in second place in a few events.
The other outstanding Silver Shark swimmer was Linden Wickham who recorded six victories in the 13-14 category. Wickham’s victories include the 25 yards and 50 yards backstroke, breast stroke and freestyle.
Although the junior males of the Silver Shark Aquatic Swim club gave a good account of themselves, that alone was not enough for victory in the male overall standings, as Orlando McRae of Orca Speed Swim club and Alan Lowe of Dorado led their clubs to the first two positions.
Orca Speed Swim Club secured 231 points in the male category to claim first place, resulting from many McRae victories while Dorado placed second with 217 points, most of which were contributed by Lowe.
Silver Shark came in third with 185, while Dolphin Speed Swim Club followed in fourth place with 116 points.
The female swimmers of Silver Shark played a significant part in capturing the overall inter-club title and they recorded a resounding 57-point victory in the women’s category which adequately compensated for the third place performance of the males.
The Silver Shark females ended with a total of 224 points while Dorado placed second with 167 points followed by Orca in third position with 101.
Onica George and Ariel Davis were among the few winners for Silver Shark, which seemed to have successfully employed the strategy of placing persons in every event. Although most of the Silver Shark females may not have won many races, they placed consistently in their events.
The overall standings saw Silver Shark claiming the Orca inter-club title with 409.5 points, Dorado Speed Swim Club placed second with 384 points, Orca third with 332 points and Dolphin Speed Swim Club fourth with 137.5 points.
Although the meet was well contested by clubs, a striking number of national swimmers did not participate either because of medical reasons or school commitments.
National swimmers such as Henck Lowe, Niall Roberts and Noelle Smith were all absent from last week’s meet. Britany Van Lange and Sorroya Simmons, who had been preparing for the Level Six examination were also absent but Jessica Stephenson capitalized on their absence and captured many victories in the girls 11-12 category.
