The OECS Swimming Championships is an annual event featuring countries from the OECS with competitive Swimming programs. The 28th annual OECS event was held in Antigua, November 8th to 10th, 2018 inclusive. Thanks to financial assistance from the SVG National Lottery, FLOW, Scotiabank, CGM Gallagher and the SVG Olympic Committee, St Vincent and the Grenadines sent a team of 34 swimmers and 2 coaches to this event.
SVG continues to improve by almost every measure in competitive swimming. Our points standing continue to close in on the other islands. However, we do not have representation in all age categories and consequently are unable to obtain points in those age groups. We therefore are not yet competitive in the team scores part of the competition. However, in the individual swimmer results, we continue to see terrific results. The highlights this year include:
- Seventeen (17) different athletes brought home medals. Last year we had 13 medal winners.
- SVG swimmers won a total of 66 medals which included 11 gold, 19 silver and 34 bronze medals ( we won 62 medals last year).
- SVG scored 955 points and this surpassed our previous best of 807 last year.
- The girls age 10 & Under won Gold in both of their relays (the 200 meter Medley relay and the 200 meter Freestyle relay). The team members were Kennice Greene, Kavern Dasilva, Jamie Joachim and Zariel Nelson.
- Kavern Dasilva (girls age 9 to 10) won gold in the 50 meter Backstroke while setting a new OECS record.
We saw some excellent swimming and some of our best results included:
- Shné Joachim, swimming in her last year of girls age 15 to 17, brought home 7 medals in her 8 races including 3 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze.
- Shane Cadogan, swimming in the boys age 15 to 17 category won 2 gold medals.
- Alex Joachim, swimming in the boys age 13 to 14, won 8 medals including 2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze.
- Zariel Nelson, swimming in her first year in the girls age 9 to 10, won 5 medals including 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.
- Nikolas Sylvester, swimming in his final year in boys age 15 to 17, won 7 medals including 3 silvers and 4 bronze.
- Kennice Greene, swimming in girls age 9 to 10 won 5 bronze medals.
- Jamie Joachim (girls age 9 to 10) won 2 silver medals.
- Hazen Dabriel won 2 silver and 2 bronze medals swimming in the boys age 8 and Under category.
- Eltonte Leonard swimming in his first year of the boys age 11 to 12, won 4 bronze medals.
- The boys age 11 to 14 won silver medals in both their relays. The team members were Bryson George, Kanale Alleyne, Tristan Ballah, Tavonte Forde and Alexander Joachim.
- Cruz Halbich (boys age 15 to 17) won 3 bronze medals.
- Tavonte Ford (boys age 11 to 12) won 3 bronze medals.
- Mya DeFreitas (girls age 11 to 12) and Bryson George (boys age 13 to 14) both won 2 bronze medals,
- Tristan Ballah boys age 11 to 12) won a silver medal in the 100 meter Breaststroke.
- Dennis Sutherland (boys age 8 and Under) won a bronze medal.
The SVG Swimming Federation would like to thank both coach Kyle Dougan coach Neiasha Alexander for their hard work. We note that 6 years ago, only Shné and Alex Joachim were able to win SVG’s first medals at the OECS level. We now have 17 different medals winners. Without the coaches, parents and of course the dedicated youth athletes we would not be enjoying the level of successes we are enjoying.
The complete medals winners list is below:
|
28th OECS Swimming Championships |
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| Medals | |||||
| Name | Gender – Age | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Totals |
| Shne Joachim | Girls 15-17 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Alex Joachim | Boys 13-14 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Zariel Nelson | Girls 9-10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Shane Cadogan | Boys 15-17 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Eltonnique Leonard | Girls 8 & Under | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Kavern Dasilva | Girls – 9-10 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Nikolas Sylvester | Boys 15-17 | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| Hazen Dabriel | Boys 8 & Under | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Jamie Jaochim | Girls 9-10 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Tristan Ballah | Boys 11-12 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Kennice Greene | Girls 9-10 | 5 | 5 | ||
| Eltonte Leonard | Boys 11-12 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Cruz Halbich | Boys 15-17 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Tavonte Forde | Boys 11-12 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Mya Defreitas | Girls 11-12 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Bryson George | Boys 13-14 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Dennis Sutherland | Boys 8 & Under | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | |||||
| TOTAL Individuals | 11 | 17 | 33 | 61 | |
| Relay | Girls – 10 & Under | 2 | |||
| Relay | Boys – 11-14 | 2 | |||
| Relay | Boys 15 & over | 1 | |||
| TOTAL Relays | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| TOTAL MEDALS – SVG | 13 | 19 | 34 | 66 | |