Sankar splashes to double gold

JOEL SANKAR collected two gold medals, in the boys 11-12 400-metre freestyle and 200m breaststroke, as the five-day National Long Course Age-Group Swimming Championships began at the Marlins Swim Pool, Westmoorings.

The La Joya Torpedoes youngster touched the wall in a time of 5:00.11 in the 400 free, ahead of Ikeena Ward 5:14.91 and Osei Campbell of Flying Fish 5:15.29. In the last race of the day (200m breaststroke), Sankar was unchallenged for the gold medal, clocking 3:02.16, with Christian Bocage of Flying Fish 3:08.84 and fellow La Joya clubmate Deronn Samlalsingh 3:09.03 trailing. Shannon Duval of Marlins edged fellow national swimmer Kimba Collymore of Piranha Aquatics to claim the girls 13-14 200m breaststroke. Duval clocked 2:54.13 while Collymore was 3.41 seconds behind with Flying Fish’s Shantal Ali a distant third in 3:14.66.

The girls 11-12 200m breaststroke saw a close finish between Flying Fish’s Chantal Fitzpatrick and Marlins’ Ashley Elliot, with Fitzpatrick taking gold in 3:18.29 and Elliot silver in 3:18.52, while Reanelle Carillo of Tidal Wave was next in 3:23.82. Earlier in the evening, Carillo won the girls 11-12 400 free in 5:25.52, ahead of Piranhas’ Brittany Stewart 5:27.71 and Wasia Ward 5:36.67. John Ross Andrews of Piranhas was victorious in the boys 13-14 200m breaststroke, clocking 2:52.71 with Stephan Salandy of Flying Fish 2:53.44 and another Piranha Carlisle Abbott 2:56.25 following. Action continues today at the Marlins Pool from 6 pm.

Other results: Boys 15-and-over 1500m freestyle: 1.John Littlepage (Marlins) 18:05.08.
Girls 13-14 800m freestyle: 1.Nicole Hutchins 10:32.69; 2.Chantal Redon (Marlins) 10:41.36; 3.Whitney Wint (Piranhas) 11:02.86.
Girls 9-10 200m freestyle: 1.Shanice Mohammed (Flying Fish) 2:39.77; 2.Samantha Rahael (Marlins) 2:47.05; 3.Renee Gordon (Piranhas) 2:51.92.
Boys 9-10 200m freestyle: 1.Christian Homer (Stingray) 2:30.34; 2.Cadell Lyons (Stingray) 2:34.19; 3.Cristopher Buffong (Tidal Wave) 2:34.61.
Girls 15-and-over 200m breaststroke: 1.Krystal Huggins (Stingray) 3:15.27; 2.Tamara Baboolal (Tidal Wave) 3:23.78; 3.Samra Conliffe (Flying Fish) 3:40.50.
Boys 15-and-over 200m breaststroke: 1.Orlando Thom (Tidal Wave) 2:40.20; 2.Joseph Ryan (Tidal Wave) 2:44.41; 3.Stefan Mader (Piranha) 2:46.10.