Records tumble at Swim Jamaica Sprint Meet

Y-SPEEDOS Swim Club extended their rich vein of form by retaining the coveted Swim Jamaica Sprint Meet title, as swimmers tuned up in form, establishing 26 records at the National Aquatic Centre over the weekend.

The winning club amassed 1,318 points, once again fending off the challenge of powerhouse Tornados Swim Club with 1,270 points. Swimaz Aquatics (500 points), Marlins Swim Club (353.5 points) and Sailfish Swim Academy (274 points) completed the top five.

Thirteen of the 24 records were recorded in the relays with Y-speedos and Tornados accounting for five a piece, while Swimaz Aquatic secured the next three.

Of the records broken, Zaneta Alvaranga of Kaizen Swim Club and Tornados Swim Club representatives Sabrina Lyn and Nathaniel Thomas topped the chart with two records each from their limited four events on the day.

Alvaranga broke record in the 50m breaststroke and the 50m butterfly events with times of 35.53 and 28.87, respectively.

In the breaststroke, Alvaranga bettered her own mark of 37.02 set last year, winning ahead of siblings Raine Hopkins (37.12) and Brooke Hopkins (37.18).

Alvaranga also lowered her previous butterfly mark of 29.12 also from last year.

“I blew the start with a poor transition from my underwater pull out, but I am pleased with the win and the butterfly record. I will have to work on my starts to ensure I get it right by Carifta; my coach said I went too deep in the breaststroke start so I definitely have to tighten up my starts,” Alvaranga shared.

Lyn had her records in the 100m butterfly and the 100m breaststroke.

She clocked 1:05.11 in the butterfly toppling Alvaranga’s old mark of 1:05.81, finishing ahead of Paige Lewis (1:11.94) of Y-speedos Swim Club and Lia Forrester (1:18.30) of Aqua Marine Ripples.

Lyn came back in the afternoon session to clock 1:17.84 and annihilate the longstanding breaststroke record of 1:23.87 set by Gabrielle Hopkins in 2012.

Meanwhile, Thomas broke the 50m freestyle record, clocking 25.33, to better his previous mark of 25.77 from last year. His other record came in the 100m freestyle where he stopped the clock in 56.51, just lowering the previous best time of 56.81 set by Joseph Black in 2014

The other added record is that of Giani Francis of Y-speedos in the 11-12 Girls’ 50m backstroke, where she touched in 33.15, lowering the 33.82 set in 2012 by Angara Sinclair.

Other record breakers include, Waldon Mcintosh of Aqua Marine, Kokolo Foster of Tornados, Kito Campbell of Y-speedos, Britney Williams and Paris Clare, both of Swimaz Aquatics and Kaheem Lozer of Kaizen Swim Club.

This annual sprint meet also represents the curtain call for local swimmers to sharpen up in a competitive arena and by extension better those qualifying marks prior to the team’s departure for the April 20-23 Carifta Swimming Championship in Barbados.