Mays, V.I. swimmers win medals

Bryson Mays swam his way to one gold medal and two silvers to lead a U.S. Virgin Islands contingent of 14 swimmers that competed at the XXVI CARIFTA Swimming Championships last week in Barbados.

As a team, the USVI finished 11th out of the 17 countries that took to the pool for four days of fierce competition. Before the team left last week, USVI coach John Vasbinder described the event as one of the top age group swim meets in the Central American and Caribbean region.

Mays entered the meet as the top seed for the 200- and 400-meter Individual Medley races. He took first in the 400 IM in 4 minutes and 42.81 seconds, and barely missed another gold in the 200 IM when Suriname's Diguan Pigot touched a fraction of a second faster.

"After getting touched out by less than a tenth in the 200 IM by the guy who he beat in the 400 IM, Bryson got a little angry and dropped four seconds off his best time in the 200 Butterfly to win another silver medal for the evening," said the V.I. Olympic Committee's Jodie Mays, who was in Barbados to watch her son Bryson, and younger brother, Matthew, compete against the best.

Bryson Mays was clocked at 2:10.77 in the 200-meter Butterfly and also took fourth in the 200-meter Backstroke (2:17.79). Matthew Mays dropped 12 seconds off his personal best in the 200-meter Butterfly and finished fifth.

The only other medalist from the territory was Brigitte Rasmussen, who won a bronze in the 100-meter Butterfly. Her time of 1:17.87 set a USVI record, which was only a few hours old after she initially set the mark during a preliminary heat that morning.

Vasbinder and the V.I. swimmers were not available for comment Wednesday night because they were traveling back to the territory.

Other highlights for the squad include new V.I. records in the boys 400-meter Freestyle Relay, Boys 800-meter Freestyle Relay, and Girls 200-meter Backstroke in both the Open Division and Girls 15-17 division.

Caylee Watson produced the latter record when she touched the wall in 2:33.21 during her preliminary heat. She finished sixth overall in the finals.

While many of the young swimmers were aiming for possible qualifying times for the Pan American Games in October, an invite to the Central American and Caribbean Confederation (CCCAN) Swimming Championships were also at stake.

Tony Hendricks, who swims the backstroke, became the eighth V.I. swimmer to qualify for the CCCAN, which will be held in Puerto Rico the last week of June.

In all, 12 of the 14 swimmers the V.I. Swimming Federation sent to Barbados advanced to their respective finals, which also qualified them for 2012 CARIFTA in the Bahamas.

V.I. represented at CARIFTA Junior Track & Field Championships

Four rising stars in the V.I. Track Federation - Jarad Lake, Alexshandro Rodriguez, Keshema Fleming and Malique Smith - competed at the CARIFTA Junior Track and Field Championships for the first time when the meet was held last weekend in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Over 30 countries from Central America and the Caribbean were invited to compete.

Lake, who attends Good Hope School, finished tied for sixth in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet and 2 inches. Lake also trains with the St. Croix Track Club.

A dominant middle-distance runner on St. Croix this past track season, Central High School's Alexshandro Rodriguez made his first international track appearance and competed in the Under-20 age division. He finished sixth in both his 400-meter heat (52.36) and his 800-meter heat (2:01.60).

Ivanna Eudora Kean High's Keshema Fleming competed in the Under-17 age division and was eighth (60.99) in her 400-meter heat. Fleming also trains with the Cheetah's Track Club.

Malique Smith, of Ricardo Richards Elementary School and the St. Croix Track Club, took eighth in the 3,000-meter run when he came across the finish line in 10:22.62.

V.I. track standouts Allison Peter and Deseree King, who each competed at the IAAF World Junior Championships last year, also qualified for CARIFTA, but opted instead to compete with their college teams at this weekend's Penn Relays in Philadelphia.

- Contact sports writer Aaron Gray at 774-8772 ext. 352 or email agray@dailynews.vi.

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