Black Sands Swim Squad shines in Barbados

A team of seven strong Vincentian swimmers, representing Black Sands Swim Squad, descended upon Barbados to compete in the annual Barbados National Swimming Championships from 7th – 9th March 2014, and once again returned to SVG carrying over 20 medals.{{more}}

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Junior Sportswoman of the Year Shne Joachim lived up to her title by smashing the Bajans long-standing national record in the 50m breaststroke in style, with a personal best of 35:05 seconds, securing the first gold medal at the event. She would later net a total of four gold medals at the event.

Shne’s younger brother Alex Joachim kept the family name on the score sheets with two silver medals and a bronze. Nikolas Sylvester, SVG’s strongest male swimmer, followed with another exceptional performance, bringing home a gold, two silvers and a bronze. Justin Sylvester, Nikolas’ younger brother, brought home two personal best times in his races and copped a bronze medal, making the meet a real family affair.

Storm Halbich continued the demolition of the Bajan teams, swimming off with a gold and two bronze medals, whilst younger brother Cruz Halbich was able to make two personal best times, keeping the Halbich family on track.

Shane Cadogan, not to be outdone by the band of brothers, shone bright, bringing home four silver medals and smashing two of his previous best times.

Black Sands Swim Squad was able not only to represent Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at the Barbados National Swimming Championships, but once again proved themselves a force to be reckoned with. Coach Kyle Dougan expressed satisfaction with the results of the meet, explaining that this was the first overseas swimming competition for 2014, and he predicts that Vincentian newspaper readers can expect to read about even better performances, as his swimmers work hard competing internationally throughout the year.