ANTIGUA--Ten young swimmers are travelling left for Antigua to represent St. Maarten and St. Martin at the 28th Annual Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Swimming Championships.
There are 12 national teams competing at the OECS Championships including Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Martinique.
The Championships are November 8 to 11. Swimmers will compete for three days in the 25m pool in individual races from 25m – 400m and also in relays. The last day is an open water course of 1km, 3km or 5km.
The swimmers had only one opportunity to qualify for the Championships at the Safe Cargo Swim Meet held last month. Each swimmer had to meet a minimum requirement of three qualifying times to make the national teams.
The ten swimmers are aged from 9-15 years and come from Carib Swim Team and the Sharks Swim Team. Four swimmers will represent St. Maarten and six will represent St. Martin.
The Dutch swimmers are: Adaya Bourne (11) Sharks, Nikki Grandtner (11) CST, Emma Marshall (15) CST and Vadym Semkiv (15) CST.
The French swimmers are: Miles Cheasley (10) CST, Maxime Gibbs (9) CST, Sacha Gibbs (12) CST, Matias Piazza (11) CST, Nicolas Piazza (9) CST and Joey Schvartz-Arnaud (9) CST.
This is only the second time swimmers from the island have competed at OECS Championships. The first time was two years ago at the 26th Championships.
Coach to the national teams, Mike Smiechowski, said, “I am excited for the future of swimming on the island and it starts with the young athletes representing the French and Dutch sides this week at OECS.”
