Sankar splashes TT ahead

WILLEMSTAD: Trinidad and Tobago logged four victories and surged to the top of the standings at the 2005 CARIFTA swimming championship on Friday night. Joel Sankar posted a smashing win in the 13-14 Boys’ 400-metre individual medley and his teammates Joseph Ryan, Samantha Rahel, and Cadell Lyons also secured victories for the defending champions at the Centro Deportivo Korsou Pool. 

Individual stars on the night included local junior champion Rodion Davelaar, who won three gold medals, and double winners Alison Fenasse (French Antilles), Alana Dillette (Bahamas) and Shaune Fraser (Cayman Islands). But TT were heading into day three almost 20 points clear on the team list with 459 points, chased by the French Antilles (439.50), with The Bahamas third on 380. Sankar was 15 seconds off Fraser’s age group record but sailed to a smart win in the 400 IM in four minutes 59.88 seconds, significantly faster than his teammate Ryan went in capturing the Boys’ 15-17 equivalent in 5:12.27. 

Rahel won the 11-12 Girls’ 50 metres butterfly in 31.46 seconds and Lyons swept the Boys’ equivalent in 28.92 seconds.  Fenasse kept up the French Antilles’ team challenge on TT with fine wins in the Girls’ 11-12 category. She sped to a championship record 1:11.43 in the 100 backstroke, erasing the five-year-old mark of 1:12.06 by Trinidad and Tobago’s Ayeisha Collymore, and also won the 200  metres freestyle in 2:21.29.  Competing in the Boys’ 13-14 age-group, the versatile Davelaar thrilled his home crowd with victories in the 200 -freestyle in 2:04.67 seconds, the 50-metre butterfly in 27.43 seconds, and the 100-backstroke in 1:04.00. 

Fraser lifted his gold medal tally to four when he captured 15-17 Boys’ 100 backstroke and 200-freestyle events. Each time pushing the Barbadian star Sean Clarke into second spot, Fraser won the 100-backstroke in 1:00.36, edging Clarke (1:00.60), and the 200-free in 1:54.94, chased by Clarke (1:56.96). Clarke reversed the placing to land the 50-metre butterfly in 25.10 seconds, with Fraser second in 25.83.  Dillette’s wins came in the 15-17 Girls’ 200-free (2:09.72) and 100-backstroke (1:08.05).  The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) snatched wins through two of their most prominent competitors, Grenada’s Tuesday Watts and Natasha George, of St Lucia. 

Watts, the OECS 2004 “Sportswoman of the Year”, won the 13-14 Girls 200 freestyle in 2:13.02, and took bronze in the 50-metre butterfly in 31.04 seconds, while George clocked 30.64 to capture 15-17 Girls’ 50-butterfly gold medal. Jamaica secured one victory through Alfred Green, taking the 13-14 Boys’ 200-freestyle in 2:08.76 seconds.  In one water polo result, Barbados defeated the Bahamas 25-2.

Day 2 Standings—

1 TT  459 points; 2  French Antilles  439.50; 3 Bahamas  380; 4 Dutch Antilles 307; 5 Suriname    251; 6 Jamaica 214; 7 Cayman 134; 8 Barbados 117.