The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the season winding down, the Sea Bees Swim Club provided the local swimmers with another opportunity to qualify for the Bahamas Swimming Federation’s annual Royal Bank of Canada National Swimming Championship.

The Sea Bees’ Summer Invitational, held on Saturday at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex, served as the last qualifier for the Nationals, scheduled for June 19-21.

At the end of the two sessions, the Barracuda Swim Club emerged victorious with a total of 2,036 points, just ahead of Swift Swimming’s 1,977.50 for second. The host Sea Bees got third with 1,534.

Rounding out the rest of the field in order were the Dolphins with 1,270, Team Orca with 1,174, the Lyford Cay Swim Club with 678, the Alpha Aquatics with 518.60 and the Mantas Water Polo Club with 262.

Individually, the swimmers had a chance to compete for the High Point Trophy in their respective age groups.

While the Swift Swimming dominated with six winners, the Barracuda and the Sea Bees had a pair each and the Dolphins got the other.

Here’s how they stacked up:

Girls 8-and-under - Ella Albury of Swift Swimming with 103 points, followed by Samantha Martinborough, also from Swift Swimming, with 93.

Boys 8-and-under - Samuel Hanna of the Dolphins with 70 with his team-mate Rondon Williams as the runner-up with 52.

Girls 8-10 - Salena Gibson of the Barracuda had 91 for the victory, while Mia Albury of Swift took second with 76.50.

Boys 8-10 - Sean Longley of the Barracuda won with 76, just two points ahead of Canaan Lightbourn of Swift, who had 74.

Girls 11-12 - Anya MacPhail of Swift won with 116, well ahead of her nearest rival, Serena Tynes of the Sea Bees with 94.

Boys 11-12 - Eduardo Loa of Swift took the top honors with 91 and Samuel Gibson of the Barracuda was the runner up with 80.

Girls 13-14 - Keithra Lloyd of the Seas won with 129 and Gabrielle McDonald, her team-mate, was the runner-up with 100.

Boys 13-14 - Michael Watkine of Swift clinched the title with 103 with his team-mate, Joshua Roberts taking second with 97.

Girls 15-and-over - Maya Thompson of Swift was tied with Anna Misiewicz of the Barracuda, both with 77.

Boys 15-and-over - Keith Lloyd Jr of the Sea Bees won the title with 121. Taylor Darville, also of the Sea Bees, was a distant second with 96.

Keith Lloyd Sr, an executive with the Sea Bees, said the meet turned out to be a very successful one.

“With this being the last meet before the nationals, we found that we had a lot of swimmers who didn’t have a qualifying time in the nationals, who participated in this meet, so it made it very competitive,” Lloyd Sr said.

“We had a good number of entries and a lot of swimmers were able to qualify, so it turned out to be a very good meet.”

One of the key factors to their success, according to Lloyd Sr, was that a number of parents, guardians and supporters showed up for the two sessions to root for their swimmers, even when the rain came pouring down during the middle of the evening session.

• For full individual results, see the listings on page two.