Romany, Carter smash swim records (26/04/11)

Source: www.guardian.co.tt

By: Nigel Simon

Joshua Romany, Dylan Carter and the 13-14 boys’ 4x100m medley relay quartet established new records on the second day of the 26th Carifta A Swimming Championships at the Aquatic Centre in Wildey, Barbados. Romany started the record breaking in the sixth race of the final session when he won the 15-17 boys’ 200m freestyle in one minute, 53.35 seconds to erase the 2000 record of 1:57.57 held by Damian Alleyne. The swim by Romany also eclipsed the 1999 record of T&T’s Nicholas Bovell of 1:54.25. Romany also went on to get silver in the 100m backstroke in 1:00.57, while compatriot Stefan Sharpe got bronze in 1:01.40. Carter established a new Carifta and T&T record in the 13-14 boys’ 100m backstroke.

A double gold-medal winner on Saturday’s opening night of finals, Carter stopped the clock on 59.63 seconds to surpass the 2009 record of Laurent Geran of 1:00.69 for gold with teammate Jabari Baptiste (1:04.55) getting bronze. The previous national record stood at 59.81 and was established in August 2001. A member of Marlins’ club, Carter splashed to his fourth individual gold of the meet in the 200m freestyle in 1:57.55, with Baptiste, second in 2:00.71. Baptiste added another silver in the 400m individual medley in 4:58.12. Baptiste and Carter later combined with Jeron O’Brien and Johnathan Gonzales in the 4x100m medley relay for gold in a record time of 4:12.25 to better the previous record of 4:12.45 which was set by Guadeloupe in 2009.

Kristin Julien, who established a new Carifta and national record in the 13-14 girls’ 50m backstroke on Saturday, added a bronze in the 50m butterfly in 30.11, and silver in the 100m backstroke in 1:09.96.
US-based Kimberlee John-Williams secured silver in the 15-17 girls’ 100m backstroke in 1:07.34.
Also picking up silver on the night was the 15-17 boys’ medley team of Stefan Sharpe, Ross Phillips, Joshua Romany and Jonathan Cabral who missed gold by 0.41 seconds when they ended in 4:02.24.
The 4x100m medley relay team for 11-12 boys’ quartet of Revash Ramtahal, Gwillym Watkins, Tariq Lashley and Aaron Acres won bronze in a time of 5:02.17 as well as the 15-17 girls’ combination of John-Williams, Rejan Chin, Kadeja Phillip and Simone Maundy in 4:40.68. Other individual finalists for T&T on the night were Phillips, Cabral, Lashley, Watkins, Acres, Amira Pilgrim, Jonathan Gillette, Bryanna Duncan and Christopher Greene, however they failed to medal.