Forty swimmers from Black Sands Swim Squad (BSSS) competed in the SVG Gallagher Invitational National Swimming Championships held from the 16th to 19th February 2023.
A total of 157 medals were won during the competition (61 Gold, 57 Silver and 39 Bronze). Those medal winners were:
For the girls:
Azalea Cox 1 Gold
Kevern Dasilva 2 Gold, 3 Bronze
Mya DeFreitas 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze
Abigail Deshong 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze
Amelia Des Vignes 2 Bronze
Kennice Greene 5 Gold, 5 Silver, 1 Bronze
Ayibanua Griffith 1 Gold, 2 Silver
Ebiwarebo Griffith 1 Bronze
Tia Gun-Munro 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze
Ira Hadley 2 Golds, 1 Silver
Eltonique Leonard 1 Gold, 8 Silver
Zariel Nelson 9 Gold
Keyana Paudel 1 Bronze
Arielle Pierre 1 Silver, 6 Bronze
Nia Quashie 3 Bronze
For the boys:
Kenale Alleyne 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze
Matthew Ballah 7 Gold, 1 Silver
Seth Byron 5 Gold, 4 Silver, 3 Bronze
Alexander Cummings 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Kione Deshong 12 Silver
Brandon George 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze
Bryson George 1 Gold, 5 Silver, 1 Bronze
Jamario Jones 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
Nikolas Sylvester 4 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
A total of five National records were broken by BSSS swimmers at the meet. In the boys 13-14 age group, Matthew Ballah broke the 100m IM record in a time of 1:03.33. In the boys 15-16 age group, Brandon George broke two records the 100m Backstroke in a time of 1:00.90 and 200m Backstroke in a time of 2:16.28. In the boys 15 & over age category, Kenale Alleyne broke his own 200m freestyle record in a time of 1:58.07. Swimming in the girls 15 & over age category, Mya DeFreitas broke her own record in the 200m freestyle in a time of 2:09.67.
Ayibanua Griffith won the sprint challenge for the girls 8 & under age category and also took the overall champion trophy and in the girls and boys 15 & over category Kennice Greene and Kenale Alleyne did the same.
SVG’s up and coming Para swimmers Anniah John and Kentreal Kydd also competed and made considerable improvements to their times.
Swimmers that also competed were Tristan Ballah, Aniyah Deane, Dariana Des Vignes, Clarice Drakes, Janai George, Jonathan George, Perezideh Griffith, Raven Hadley, Nevaeh Henry, Kyle John, Tajiri Layne, Louichya Premraj, Nevaeh Quammie and Dacari Quashie.
BSSS Head Coach Kyle Dougan said “BSSS swimmers continue to out-perform in competition and this year’s Gallagher Championships held this weekend was no exception. Great results by all swimmers with many personal best times which continues to prove their ongoing commitment and dedication to the sport prevails. A huge congratulations to Blue Marlins Swim Club winning the top performing club showing the strength and depth of their team. I continue to be very proud of all BSSS swimmers and the efforts of the coaching staff and we look forward to another great year of competition.”
