OECS 2014 Swimming Championships – SVG’s best ever!

Team SVG sent a team of 31 swimmers to compete at the 24th OECS Swimming Championships, held in St Lucia during the period November 7 to 9, 2014. These were the largest and most competitive OECS Swimming Championships ever held.{{more}}

Team SVG returned with 35 medals, its largest medal haul ever in the 24-year history of the OECS Swimming Championships. Almost all SVG swimmers returned with improvements in their personal best times. Shne Joachim and Nikolas Sylvester smashed the OECS 100 Metre Breaststroke records. The leading SVG individual swimming performances were by:

o Alexander Joachim, swimming in the boys 9 to 10 age group, led the way for SVG swimmers bringing home four gold, two silver and two bronze medals. Alex was in the top three positions in every race in which he competed and he improved on his personal best times in six of his eight races. Alex placed second in the overall championship in his age group and was a mere two points behind first place.

o Shane Cadogan, swimming in the boys 11 to 12-year-old age group, won a total of seven medals, three golds and four silvers. He narrowly missed out on the OECS 50 Metre Breaststroke record. He placed second in the overall championship in his age group, while setting eight new personal best times.

o Nikolas Sylvester, swimming in the boys 13 to 14-year-old age group, won a total of seven medals, two golds, two silvers and three bronze. He also placed second in the overall championship in his age group, while setting five new personal best times. Nik beat the previous record in the 100m Breaststroke by 1.3 seconds.

o Shne Joachim, SVG’s Carifta record holder and Pan Am Games 2015 qualifier, swimming in the girls 13 to 14 age group, travelled from Canada to represent her homeland. She won two gold medals, two silvers and two bronze medals, while setting three personal best times. Shne broke the previoust OECS record in the 50 Metre Butterfly, but saved her best for the 100

Metre Breaststroke, where she smashed the previous OECS record that had stood for 10 years by 2.2 seconds. That OECS record was set by St Lucia’s only female Olympic qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Team SVG also earned four bronze medals from two of its relay teams. The boys aged 10 and under team, comprising Alex Joachim, Bryson George, Kenale Alleyne and Tristan Ballah, placed third in the 200 Freestyle Relay and the 200 Medley relay. The boys 11 to 14 years old team, comprising Nikolas Sylvester, Shane Cadogan, Dillon Gooding and Chavez Joseph, also placed third in the 200 Freestyle and 200 Medley relays.

Special mention should be made of the swims of Loren Gun-Munro (one silver and one bronze medal) and Kyle Dougan (one silver) who swam in the 18 and above age category.

The SVG Swimming Federation extends its congratulations to all swimmers who participated in the OECS Championships. We offer special congratulations to Kyle Dougan and his coaching staff of Roy Bradshaw and Xaveon Caesar for the outstanding job they did in preparing our athletes for the OECS Championships.

Up next for Team SVG is the CARIFTA Swimming Championships, to be held in Barbados, April 4th to 7th, 2015. The SVG team will include Nikolas Sylvester, Shane Cadogan, Shne Joachim and Alexander Joachim. We expect to have at least three more qualifiers. We are confident they will do their very best for SVG.