T&T’s Dylan Carter continued his preparations for the upcoming Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games with a comfortable win in the men’s 50m freestyle final at the Wellington Long Course Meet hosted by Wellington Swimming and The Village of Wellington at the Wellington Aquatic Complex in Wellington, Florida, on Saturday, May 9.
The 30-year-old swam in the fourth and final heat in 22.32 seconds to top the field of 28 swimmers, with 17-year-old Andreas Da Silva a distant second in 23.71 and Hayden Scholl, 16, third in 25.68.
Carter is expected to lead this country’s medal charge at the CAC Games in the Dominican Republic from July 24 to August 8. Where he will be joined by Nikoli Blackman, Liam Carrington, Zarek Wilson, Zachary Anthony, and Zuri Ferguson, all student-athletes in the USA, while recent Subway Open Water Classic 5,000m and 1,000m men’s winner, Tyrell Celestine, will compete in the Open Water event.
Of the quintet, Anthony will be among the field of swimmers who will compete in the National Open Long Course Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva, from Thursday, May 14, until Sunday, May 17.
According to Shawn Pouchet, President of the Aquatics Sports Association of T&T (ASATT), the executive will soon meet to name a coach for both the swimming team and the open water, with a manager for the overall team to be selected as well.
Last month, the trio of Carter, Carrington and Ferguson were among a star-studded field of swimmers who competed in the 2026 Speedo Fort Lauderdale Open, formerly a stop on USA Swimming’s Pro Swim Series.
During the meet, Carrington won his first major senior individual competitive medal when he got bronze in the men’s 100 backstroke A-Final.
The 18-year-old Carrington, who is committed to North Carolina State University for the fall, finished in the third spot in 55.48, about a second ahead of the 54.54 he swam in August at the World Junior Championships.
Carrington, a winner of 12 medals (nine gold, one silver and two bronze) at the Carifta Aquatics Championships in Martinique in April, had earlier qualified as the fourth fastest overall from the morning heats in the 100m backstroke after he placed second in the fifth of six heats in 56.35 seconds.
The 17-year-old Carrington was also sixth in the men’s 50m backstroke A-final in 26.22 seconds, two spots up from the morning heats when he touched the wall in 26.19.
A student of Bolles High School in Florida, USA, Carrington also had a sixth-place finish in the men’s 50m freestyle B final in 23.15 seconds.
In the 50m freestyle A-final, T&T’s Dylan Carter also secured a bronze medal in the men’s 50m butterfly in 23.54, five hundredths off his preliminary swim of 23.49.
Carter was also sixth in the 50m freestyle in 22.42 after a time of 22.41 in the heats, while in the 100m butterfly A-final, he ended in the fifth spot in 53.07 seconds after clocking 53.16 seconds in the heats, and in the men’s 100m freestyle A-final, Carter ended in the fourth spot in 48.87 seconds following his time of 49.07 in the morning heats.
In the women’s 100m backstroke B-final, Ferguson of the University of Florida secured the runner-up spot with a time of one minute, 02.81 seconds; was 18th in the women’s 200m backstroke heats in two minutes, 19.44 seconds; and was sixth in the women’s 50m backstroke B-final in 29.91 seconds after a morning prelims time of 29.58, the 13th best.
