SAINT Lucia Aquatic Federation (SLAF) Junior Male and Female Swimmers for the Year, Antoine Destang and Naima Hazell will lead Saint Lucia’s charge at the Union Americana de Natacion (UANA) Swimming Cup, at the Videna Aquatic Complex, in Lima, Peru, from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd February 2020.
The Saint Lucia squad includes Karic Charles, Ethan Hazell and Naima Hazell of the Lightning Aquatics Swim Club, Antoine Destang of the Sharks Swim Club and Tristan Dorville of the Seajays Swim Club.
At Saint Lucia’s last sub regional swim event for 2019, the 29th edition of the OCES Swim Championship which took place in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in November, Antoine Destang topped the high points for boys 9-10 category; he also picked up three goal medals and went on to set 8 OECS Records; Naima Hazell got 1 gold, I silver; Tristan Dorville 2 gold, 2 silver and Karic Charles 1 silver, 1 bronze.
According to the Saint Lucia Aquatic Federation, the invited swimming federations include Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Turks and Caicos, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, Canada and host nation Peru.
As a benchmark for qualification, each swimmer would have swum a minimum of three Tripe (AAA) Motivational Swim Times within the past six months. A total of eight swimmers held the qualifying times, however, due to personal commitments five swimmers from the Saint Lucia Aquatics Federation will compete with one goal on their agenda – to medal.
SLAF is extremely excited that four of the five swimmers will swim two relays in the 11-12 age group category.
David Peterkin, SLAF Vice President noted, “Five of our top swimmers will be up against the best from South and Central America and the Caribbean in Peru come next week. This is quite an achievement for a very talented group of young swimmers that have nothing but podium calls on their minds.”
The five-member team will be accompanied by Coach Peter James. He also shared his thoughts expressing, “I am excited to take this young team of talented swimmers over to Peru for the UANA 2020 Swimming Cup. I am confident that this team is going to set the tone for Saint Lucia swimming for 2020.”
“Our swimmers range from ages 11-14 years, apart from being confident, members of this team will make it onto the podium – our 11-12 boys relay team are the ones to look out for. Just remember 20 in 2020!”
The SLAF wishes the representing team success as they go out to represent Saint Lucia in Peru.