CASTRIES- A small but powerful delegation of the St. Maarten Sharks Swim Team competed in the 18th annual St. Lucia Invitational at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre in Castries.
The competition, themed ‘Friendship Through Competition’ was attended by athletes, Nigel Fontenelle , Caeli President, Adaya Bourne, Ce'Mara Atlan along with coach Nicole Maccow and dedicated parents.
This event has drawn over 300 athletes of 25 teams hailing from across the region. Included were swimmers from host country St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, New York city and St. Maarten.
The Sharks Swim Team athletes competed in a combined total of 30 individual events and successfully managed to be placed in the top ten finals of 26 events. Two of the youngest athletes managed to score in the top 3 on three different individual events. Athlete Nigel Fontenelle (age category 7-8) placed second on the 50 metre backstroke, which he completed in 45.81 seconds and came in third place on the 25 metre backstroke in a recorded time of 22.21 seconds.
Caeli President scored third place on the 25 metre breaststroke, completed in 25.21 seconds. Both athletes Adaya Bourne and Ce'mara Atlan (girls 9-10) performed excellently while swimming some challenging events such as the 200 metre Freestyle and 200 metre individual medley for the first time and placing in the top 10.
Sharks coach, Nicole Maccow, deems the event a great opportunity to expose swimmers to competitive swimming in the region. According to her, continued investments are needed locally to develop the discipline that will place Sint Maarten on the map.
Maccow expressed her enthusiasm in bringing the Sharks team to compete in the annual Organization of Eastern Caribbean (OECS) competition which will be held in October on Martinique.
