Three swimmers from St. Vincent’s Black Sands Swim Squad travelled to Barbados on the 5th December to compete in the annual Barbados Short Course National Swimming Championships and proudly returned on the 9th December with a total of 19 medals.
Competing in the girls 11 to 12 years age group were youngsters Abigail Deshong and Mya DeFreitas. Deshong swam herself to two Bronze medals in the 50 meters breaststroke and the 50 meters butterfly and ended the competition with a remarkable four personal best times. Young Mya DeFreitas battled hard over the five day competition and came home to St. Vincent laden with medals and a need for the record books to be changed into her name. Mya brought home a total of eight medals, (2 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze). During her medal winning flurry, Mya broke St. Vincent National records in the 100, 400 and 1500 meters freestyle, the 200 meters butterfly and the 100, 200 and 400 meters individual medley within her 11 to 12 year age group. She also broke senior National records in the 400 and 1500 meters freestyle and 200 meters butterfly, meaning Mya is now “THE” holder of 17 National swimming records.
Mya’s brother Aaron continued the family medal winning run by bringing home a total of nine medals, (2 Gold, 6 Silver and 1 Bronze). To top off his great success, Aaron managed to achieve personal best times in six events he competed in.
Black Sands’ Head Coach, Mr Kyle Dougan said “these are fantastic, well deserved end of year results for the swimmers who have all worked extremely hard throughout 2018”.