WESTMOORINGS, Trinidad, CMC – The Barbadian trio of Zabrina Holder, Shannon Smith and Sariyah Sherry each ended with five individual gold medals when the 23rd Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) December Invitational ended Sunday night.
Overall, Barbadian clubs captured 11 more gold medals, eight silver and eight bronze on the final night to end with a bulky total of 110 medals over four days — 44 gold, 35 silver and 31 bronze – at the Marlins Pool for their best ever showing at a T&T swim meet.
Holder swam to individual gold medal number five when she won the 11-12 Girls’ 50-metre freestyle in 28.81 seconds while countrywoman Inayah Sherry was second in 29.09.
Smith, of Dolphins, bagged her fifth gold in the Eight and Under Girls’ age-group when she out-swam her rivals in the 50m in 36.12 to lead a Bajan 1-2-3 finish.
Second was Alpha’s Reanna James (36.77) and third, Kendi Bynoe (36.93) also of Alpha.
Sariyah Sherry had her fifth golden swim in the 9-10 Girls’ 50m freestyle in 30.99 seconds.
The other gold medal winners from Barbados on Sunday night included Lani Cabrera, Damon St Prix, Alex Sobers, Marsha Watson, Deandre Small and the Eight and Under, 9-10 and 11-12 Girls’ 200m freestyle relay teams.
Cabrera topped her field in the 15-17 Girls’ 800m freestyle in nine minutes, 46.91 seconds, and St Prix, the Eight and Under Boys’ 50m freestyle (31.60), both posting all-comers records for their fourth individual gold medal each.
Sobers swam to gold in the 9-10 Boys’ 200m individual medley (2:54.66); Watson proved unbeatable in the 15 & Over Girls’ 200m IM (2:38.88) and Small came up big in the 11-12 Girls’ 100 metres breaststroke (1:21.28).
The Alpha quartet of Bynoe, Destiny Harding, Danielle Titus and James won the Eight & Under 200m freestyle relay in two minutes, 33.90 seconds.
Alhea Williams, Tiffany Titus, Khadija Callender and Sariyah Sherry combined for gold in the 9-10 Girls’ 200m freestyle relay in 2:16.95 while Inayah Sherry, Amara Gibbs, Holder and Small powered to victory in the 11-12 Girls’ 200m freestyle relay in 1:57.63.
Other medal winners for the visiting Barbadian clubs were Sariyah Sherry, Holder, Gibbs, Lee Ann Rose, Sobers and Zhane Padmore all with silver swims while Williams, Christian Selby, Crystal Jordan-Browne, Iyanah Sherry, Rose, Watson, Rebecca Clarke and Gabriel Gunby added bronze medal swims.
Jamaican swimmer Sidrell Williams also enjoyed a good final night with a gold medal in the 11-12 Boys’ 200 IM, silver in the 100m backstroke and a bronze in the 50m freestyle.
Grenada’s Ayesha Noel had silver medal swims in the 13-14 Girls’ 800m freestyle and 200m IM, while compatriots Oreoluwa Cherebin earned a silver in the 11-12 Girls’ 100m breaststroke; Delron Felix, a bronze in the Eight and Under Boys’ 50m freestyle and Richard Regis, bronze also in the 15-17 Boys’ 1500m freestyle.
St Lucian Siona Huxley, who qualified for the Youth Olympics in Singapore on Friday night bagged gold in the 15 & Over 100m backstroke (1:07.73) and also a silver in the 50m freestyle.
Fellow St Lucians Jordan Augier (bronze) and Joshua Runako Daniel (silver) were also among the medals.
Among the local swimmers, Dylan Carter and Caryle Blondell established new national 50-metre freestyle records to close off the season.
Carter touched the wall first in the 11-12 Boys’ splash in 25.58 seconds to lower the old mark of 25.94 which was held by his coach Franz Huggins since 1992.
He also won the 200 IM (2:32.63) and 100 backstroke (1:06.47) for three victories on the night.
Blondell, meanwhile shattered the 15 and Over Boys’ event in 23.55 seconds to better the previous record of Cadell Lyons, done in July at the CCCAN Championships in Venezuela.
Kimberlee John-Williams ended with a whopping 11 gold medals thanks to a hat-trick of wins in the 13-14 Girls’ 800m freestyle (9:39.22), 100 backstroke (1:07.68) and 50m freestyle (28.56).
