The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE 54th edition of the Bahamas Aquatics' National Swimming Championships produced some outstanding performances across the board from the boys and girls in just about every age group and clubs represented.

In the words of Bahamas Aquatics' president Algernon Cargill, the four-day championships over the weekend at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex turned out to be one of the best they have staged in a long time.

While Mako Swim Club, headed by Travano McPhee, boasted of winning their eighth straight title, it was one of their youngest competitors who stole the show, even though there were some of the countries' elite swimmers and a number of international competitors in competition.

Mako's Nya Ferguson, a nine-year-old who will be entering grade four at Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said she was thrilled to be back home with a lot of support from her family and friends.

"It feels amazing, just to know that I got to participate with the help of my coaches," said Ferguson, who established five national records as she dominated the girls’ 8-and-under division, winning a medal in every event she participated in.

Ferguson said her goal is now set on the Goodwill Games that The Bahamas will host in August. She's hoping that she can turn in another stellar performance for the country before she returns to school.

On the boys' side, a stellar performance came from Christon Joseph in the 13-14 division. The versatile 14-year-old, 6-foot basketball player claimed seven individual gold medals, breaking five national records and one Bahamian Open record.

"My performance was exceptional. I trained really hard for this. I really wanted to do it and I executed," Joseph said. "I really enjoyed the 200m free and 100m butterfly because I came back faster than I ever did before."

As he prepares to enter grade 10, Joseph said he has one lofty goal for next season and that is to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games to be staged in Los Angeles, California. 

Mason Sadowski of Lyford Swim Club turned in a great performance as well in the boys’ 8-and-under division, easily winning seven gold medals. 

"It was good. In the longer distance races, I didn't have anybody to pace off, so I had to just try my hardest to see how I could get my best times," Sadowski said.

"I feel good about my performances, but I think the 100m freestyle was my best event. I like the mid-distance events where you have to swim as hard as you can."

Isabella Cuccurullo, a member of Alpha Aquatics, had another top performance as she captured the girls’ 13-14 high point trophy with 63 points after controlling the breaststroke and butterfly events.

"My performance was pretty good," said Cuccurullo, who ended up with seven gold medals. "I was on some of my best times, I beat some of them and I added some times."

The 15-year-old  former student of Lucaya International School in Grand Bahama who will be transferring to Baylor Boarding School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for grade 10, said she was pleased with her perfomances all weekend long. 

"I've been training hard and I think I did pretty well. It was a pretty good meet for me. I enjoyed the 50m breastroke because I had problems in this event, but I dropped my overall time so I was pleased with it."

There were a number of records also produced, but one that stood out was from the Blue Waves' team in the girls’ 8-and-under 200m medley relay in two minutes and 44.78 seconds.

Layla-Ray Julien said it was good because "we broke the record by five seconds." She noted that she did the butterfly stroke and she "swam fast as I could. My team swims too. We worked together and we came first."

Madison Richards, a nine-year-old heading into grade five, said it was exciting.

"I did good," she said. "I was surprised that we swam as fast as we did."

Peyton Bostwick, also nine, said she felt it was an "amazing performance" and she was very "excited" about their accomplishments. "It went well for us and I am happy to swim with them."

And Charlotte King, who swam the backstroke, said she was "happy to have my team-mates racing with me."

She noted that "it was our first time getting the record. It was actually our second. But this one feels much better than the first one because we got a lot faster this time."

At the end of the meet, Mako clinched its eighth consecutive title with 3,059 points, followed by the Blue Waves with 1,347.50 and Alpha Aquatics rounding out the top three with 1,168.