Thursday, July 16, 2009

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Quintet looking forward to Worlds By DAHALIA SMITH ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ dahalia@nasguard.com: The Bahamas' senior national team members for the FINA World Championships, from July 18 - August 2 in Rome, Italy, weighed in on their expectations this past weekend. Making up the team are sisters Teisha and Alicia Lightbourne and Olympians Alana Dillette, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Grand Bahamian Vereance Burrows. They all met World qualifying marks at different events held earlier this year. The four women are expected to compete in two relay events, the 4x100 meters (m) freestyle and the 4x100m medley relay. Also, Dillette is expected to compete in the 50 and 100-meter backstroke and the 50 and 100-meter butterfly events. Vanderpool-Wallace will represent the country in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly events. Alicia Lightbourne will focus on the 50 and 100-meter breaststroke events and Teisha is expected to swim in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle events. The sole male on the team is set to compete in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle and the 50 and 100-meter butterfly events. They were in town this past weekend for the 38th RBC Swimming Nationals, where they posted impressive times in their respective events and expressed satisfaction about their progress in their training programs. Dillette, in particular, set new records and personal best times in two different events, the 50-meter backstroke and the 50-meter butterfly with times of 30.06 and 27.62 seconds respectively. She returns to the United States today to continue her training. "So far this season I have not rested, and I am looking forward to that. Resting is a part of conditioning which can help me swim faster in July. My best time in the 100 butterfly is 1:01.50 and my goal is to go under one minute," said Dillette. "I have been doing this time for the past two years and after the nationals I am confident that this can happen. My best time in the 100 backstroke is 1:02.56 and my goal is to go 1:00.56," said Dillette, who relished on the opportunity to watch the junior swimmers compete at the nationals this past weekend. Vanderpool-Wallace also seems to be swimming fast times as she prepares herself for the FINA World Championships. She swam times of 25.80 seconds in the 50m freestyle, 55.80 seconds in the 100m freestyle, and 1:02.35 in the 100m butterfly. "It's nice to be able to swim fast in front of a home crowd and know that I have the support of fellow Bahamians as I prepare for international meets. I will begin to cut down on my training but we are still fine tuning some of the areas. My expectations are to swim personal best times and advance to final rounds. Also, I hope we represent The Bahamas well in the first ever relay to compete at this level," noted Vanderpool-Wallace. Alicia Lightbourne swam a splendid time of 1:14.95 in the 100m breastroke at the nationals. "I lowered my times in the respective events that I will be competing in at the Worlds, so I am happy with where I am at. The highest international event I ever went to was the Pan American Games and I am happy about making the team. I was nervous at first about making the cut because most of the other members were on the Olympic team. No matter what, I know that I will at least get a good experience out of it," said Alicia. Burrows also swam impressive times at the RBC Swimming Nationals. "The 50m freestyle is the only event that I did not PB in and that is probably the hardest event to PB in. However, I remain optimistic about lowering my time in this event at the Worlds. Going into the Worlds I am better than where I want to be. That is actually reason for concern because I don't want to peek to early, so from now until Worlds my training will be moderate," noted Burrows. Burrows also commended the BSF for assisting him financially and otherwise this season, while attending the University of Kentucky in the United States. Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF) President Algernon Cargill touched on the team's chances of winning medals at the Worlds. "Taking in consideration the team members' seed times, they are not rated in the top five. Swimming is still a developmental sport in The Bahamas, so it is not about winning medals at the Worlds, it is about swimming best times and representing the country well. Once this is done I think the medals will come in the long run," said Cargill. Tuesday, June 30, 2009