Marlins’ Zalayhar Lewis of Bishop’s Anstey Junior won four gold medals to close out the four-day Aquatic Sports Association of T&T (ASATT) National Open Long Course Swimming Championships which ended at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva on Sunday night.
The ten-year-old Lewis first won the ten and Under Girls 200m individual medley in three minutes, 04.91 seconds while clubmates Zahara Anthony (3:30.70 minutes), and Elin Stone (3:37.53) ended second, and third respectively.
She then stormed to victory in the 100m backstroke in one minute, 28.84 seconds well ahead of Anthony (1:39.07 mins), and Blue Fins’ Athalia Giddings who clocked 1:40.63.
Lewis secured her third win on the night in the 50m butterfly in 36.43 seconds, beating Anthony into the second spot with her time of 41.97 while Stone was third in 46.61.
And in the 50m freestyle, Lewis (32.27), won ahead of Anthony (35.81), and Stone (36.32) for a third club sweep on the night in the age group.
Nikoli Blackman, the three-time First Sports Foundation ‘Junior Sportsman of the Year who has committed to the University of Tennessee beginning next September added a hattrick of wins on the night.
The 17-year-old Blackman, one of T&T’s standout performers at the 36th Caribbean Free Trade Association Aquatics (Carifta) Championships at the Enith Brigitha Swimming Pool in Curacao last month, raced to the top spot in the 11 & Over Boys 50m freestyle in a World Championship ‘B’ qualification mark of 22,70 with his Marlins teammate Zachary Anthony second in 24.46, while Tidal Wave Aquatics’ Johann-Matthew Matamoro secured the bronze medal in 24.68.
Blackman then won the 11& over Boys 100m breaststroke in one minute, 07.98 seconds followed home by Atlantis’ Riquelio Jospeh in 1:10.12, and Red, White, and Black Aquatics’ Anpherne Bernard who touched the wall in 1:11,23.
And in the 200m butterfly, Blackman got home in a winning time of two minutes, 06.64 seconds, with Anthony second n 2:09.80, and Christiano Rivas, a distant third in 2:16.76.
Matamoro denied Blackman a fifth win on the night after he swam to victory in the 200m backstroke in 2:13.27, with the latter second in 2:18.77, and Blue Dolphins, third in 2:21.94.
Micah Alexander of Eagles’ and Aiden Nixon of Tidal Wave’s Aquatics were the only other double winners of Sunday’s final night.
Alexander won the ten and Under Boys’ 200m individual medley in 3:08.46 with Tidal Wave’s Aiden Nixon (1:12.80), and Red, White and Black’s Marcus Nesbitt (3:16.97), second and third respectively: and in the 50m freestyle, he won in 33.70 seconds, just ahead of Nixon (33.71), with Elihu Brown of Blue Fins’ third in 35.61.
Nixon, managed to turn the table on Alexander in the 100m backstroke swim, winning in 1:26.90 to his rival’s time of 1:31.56 with Marlins’ Zion George, third in 1:37.64, and in the 50m butterfly, he stopped the clock in 35.48 with Alexander again in the second spot in 36.37, and Eli Edwards, third in 41.36.
The other winners on the night included Taylor Marchan, Zoe Anthony, Teheli Sealey, Cherelle Thompson, Tyla Ho-A-Shu, Tilly Collymore, Zachary Anthony, and Anton Gopaulsingh.
