The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — With a day off to relax and reflect on the fantastic performances so far from Joanna Evans, head coach Andy Loveitt said he’s looking forward to the swim team returning to action today in the 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Swim Complex.

The three-man team will pick up from the two national record breaking performances posted by Joanna Evans in the women’s 400 metre freestyle in four minutes and 7.80 for a ranking of 13th in the world and 2:01.27 in the 200m freestyle for 37th in the world.

Dustin Tynes was the first to compete, finishing 44th overall in the 100m breaststroke in 1:03.71.

“When the preliminaries were going on this morning, we were at the stadium training,” said Loveitt, who worked directly with Evans, while Lionel Moreau dealt with Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace.

“Arianna has a big three days of competition to look forward to and Jo had a nice easy swim and she will do some more pace work before she finishes her final swim.

“But they are both looking very good. A girl dropped out of the 800m, which moves Jo into the second heat, which means that she is put in the pool with the women in the 8:20 range. She’s around the 8:32 range, so moving into that competition will help her to improve on her time.”

To help put the team in a more relaxed mood, Loveitt said they took the swimmers out to dinner Monday night, rather than eating from the variety of items on display in the Games Village cafeteria. He said they got a chance to enjoy another side of the Olympic experience.

“We slept in late this morning, had a light breakfast and went straight to the pool,” he said. “Now they are relaxing in their rooms and hopefully get a good night’s sleep so that they can be ready for tomorrow (today).”

Vanderpool-Wallace, who has qualified for three events here, will be competing for the first time in the heats of the women’s 100m freestyle. She will be in lane seven in the fifth of six heats that starts around 12:02 pm EST.

On Thursday, Evans will come back in her final event in the women’s 800m freestyle at 12:36 pm EST. She is now entered in the second of four heats in lane eight.

Then on Friday at 12:02pm EST, Vanderpool-Wallace completes her participation in her third Olympics by swimming in the heats of the women’s 50m free where she is entered in the last of 12 heats in lane three.

“We have to be very pleased what we’ve done so far. We’re really making progress,” Loveitt said. “In the past when you look at it, the Bahamas has really been a track and field country, but swimming is coming up and our swimmers are making great progress. So we’re looking forward to some exciting results over the next few days.”

Loveitt said the swimmers have been holding their own and anticipates that they will close out the competition for Team Bahamas with a bang.