The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Swimming Federation has been forced to make an adjustment to the national team that will travel to Bridgetown, Barbados, over the Easter holiday to defend their title in the CARIFTA Swimming Championships.

According to president Algernon Cargill, the federation has had to replace Virginia Stamp with Kaliyah Albury and Peter Morley was replaced by Samuel Gibson.

While Stamp opted not to travel for her own personal reasons, Morley was unable to get out of school to travel.

“We possibly gave up some points, but we can’t force a swimmer to compete,” said Cargill about Stamp’s decision to withdraw from the team, although they respect her decision.

“When you are on the national team, it means that you have to commit to practice, commit to training and commit to the team regimen. When you can’t commit, then it’s probably best to withdraw early so we can better manage the team.” This is not the first rodeo for Albury, but she was overly excited when it was announced that she will make the team again. “I am ready to go to CARIFTA and do my best to help the team,” said Albury, who made her initial appearance last year when the Bahamas hosted the event.

Albury, a 16-year-old 11th grader at St Augustine’s College, made the open water team last year, but she said she’s elated to now make the team in the pool.

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity,” she said. “We have an excellent team going to Carifta, It really look like the points are on our side to repeat as champions.”

In the case of Morley, Cargill said it was a situation where he could not get the time off from school to travel to compete.

Despite the changes made, head coach Travanno McPhee said they still have a solid 36-member team that will represent Team Bahamas and he is confident that they can repeat as champions.

“We are going to start training as a team, starting this Saturday,.” he said. “We have four Saturdays to get the team ready, those who are here in Nassau. Those who are in Grand Bahama, will also train together.

“So right now, it’s all about getting that team camaraderie together, especially with the relays. So we still have some left before we start to rest before we go to Barbados.”

The BSF, who named its water polo team few days after the swim team, held its open water competition to select the team that will complete the Bahamian contingent in Barbados.

Cargill said it’s a proven fact that the Bahamas has not feared that well in the open water competition in the past, albeit Joanna Evans has won the girls’ title a few times.

“Open water Carifta is 5k, so we expect to have a good showing, but not really to win Carifta,” he said. “We expect some good performances, but winning really isn’t our focus.”

In preparation for the water polo team to compete at their best, McPhee said the event is catching on and they had quite a number of competitors, who competed.

“This was a chance for some of them to get on the Carifta team, so we are pleased with those who participated,” he said. “We haven’t had as much success as we did in the pool at Carifta, but this year I feel we will rank in the top three or at least top five in our age groups.

“We will look to step up a little more than we did in the past years and hopefully we will try to bring home another medal in the open water swim. We may not win it, but we hope that we can be very competitive in it.”

The team is now comprised of the following swimmers:

Boys 15-17 - Izaak Bastian, DaVante Carey, Kevon Lockhart, Samuel Gibson, Ian Pinder, Lamar Taylor, Luke-Kennedy Thompson and Mark-Anthony Thompson.

Girls 15-17 - Katelyn Cabrral, Jamilah Hepburn, Anya MacPhail, Katherine Slatter and Aliyah Albury.

Boys 13-14 - Nigel Forbes, Taye Fountain, Jared Reckley, Ishan Roiy, Ocean Smith and Erald Thompson III. Girls 13-14 - Devin Cuffy- Bethel, Grace Farrington, Salene Gibson, Rachel Lundy, Delaney Mizell and Keianna Moss.

Boys 11-12 - Amauri Bonamy, Tristin Ferguson, Asher Johnson, Marvin Johnson and Ethan Pinder.

Girls 11-12 - Rhanishka Gibbs, Leylah Knowles, Seannia Norville-Smith, Mia Patton and Giann Sands.