The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

JOANNA Evans was waiting for this time for a long time. She came home and finally posted her A qualifying time in the women’s 800 metres for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August.

The University of Texas Longhorns’ junior came home and, on the first day of the Bahamas Swimming Federation’s 45th Royal Bank of Canada National Championships, she not only surpassed the A standard for the Olympics, but she shattered every record on the books in the process.

The Grand Bahama native, who came having done the B standard of eight minutes and 51.96 seconds, won the gruelling race yesterday at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex in 8:32.19 to surpass the A standard of 8:33.97 to solidify her spot for Rio with double qualifier Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace.

She also lowered both her National and Open records of 8:59.49 she set back in 2013 and her Bahamas record of 8:37.18 that she posted in 2015.

After the victory, Evans said she was just relieved that she did the A qualifying time. “Honestly, I can’t really say I expected that time,” Evans told The Tribune after the performance. “I asked the girl swimming next to me if she was going to go for it and after she said yeah, I went for it. I tried it a couple of times and I didn’t get it, so I’m just happy that I finally got it.”

Evans’ event was one of the first finals completed last night. Results of the other events were not available. But her win came after Anya MacPhail of the Barracuda Swim Club took the girls 13-14 800m in 10:16.88.

The holder of the younger divisional national record in 9:32.53 coasted to her win in the open division over her Swift Swimming teammate Lilly Higgs, who did 9:53.87. “To come home and swim this fast is just amazing,” said Evans, who will now concentrate on a possible second qualifier in the 400m free. “I’ve been trying for this time for so long and after coming so close in the past, I’m just glad that it all finally came together in this meet.”

Evans, 18, is still trying to relish in the moment, but she said she is just so thrilled to be an official Olympic qualifier that she can now go to sleep.

While Evans and Vanderpool-Wallace are the only two official Olympic qualifiers for the Bahamas, Elvis Burrows and Dustin Tynes are both waiting in the wings with their B qualifying marks.

Over the next three days, they are both hoping that with the international field of competitors competing in the Nationals, they will be able to lower their marks.

If they fail to do it this weekend, they can still come back next week when the BSF hosts the Caribbean Islands Swim Championships from Wednesday to Sunday at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex.