A fine team boasting 18 of Jamaica’s most talented age-group swimmers is now in preparation for its first major assignment of the year, after being selected by the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) for the UANA Swimming Cup.

The second staging of the meet is scheduled for February 21-23 at the Videna Aquatic Center in Lima, Peru. It is currently the highest level age-group meet on ASAJ’s calendar, as it requires the highest qualifying standard of Quad-A (AAAA) times to make the team.

UANA Cup is contested across three age groups — 11-12, 13-14 and 15-17 — same as the Carifta and CCCAN Swimming Championships and will be competed in long course metres. The events will be timed finals.

Of the 18 swimmers listed for the Gillian Millwood-coached Jamaican team, 13 are local based with the other five based overseas. Headlining the qualifiers with six AAAA times are local sensation Zaneta Alvaranga and overseas-based Brady Macpherson Lewison.

Jamaica’s participation at the inaugural staging concluded with the team registering six best times and 20 new personal records overall, two age-group records and one senior national record.

Emily MacDonald was the best-placed Jamaican in the high-point scoring, placing eighth with 22 points.

The Union Americana de Natacion (UANA) is the regional governing body for aquatic sports in the Americas. While less visible than governing bodies in places like Europe, UANA has been around since the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

ASAJ President Martin Lyn welcomed the opportunity to have Jamaican athletes compete against top competition outside of Carifta and CCCAN regions.

“The UANA Cup is a fantastic meet because it involves countries outside of our normal regional meets, so Jamaica has the opportunity to attend this event and give our athletes the opportunity to compete against athletes that they don’t normally face in the Carifta or CCCAN region,” Lyn told the Jamaica Observer.

While commending coaches and athletes on achieving the qualifying standard, Lyn also noted that though selected, there is a possibility that not all 18 athletes will make the trip for various reasons.

“It’s even more pleasing to have 18 members ratified to go to the event this time around and so kudos must be in order for the swimmers and their coaches.

“However, not all 18 will make the trip; the timing of the event and where it is held for instance, as well as the fact that it clashes with our age-group championships here in Jamaica. So it is a little bit unfortunate that the full roster might not be attending, but having 18 athletes qualified is indeed a feather in our cap,” Lyn noted.

The Invited Federations for the UANA Cup: Zone One — CCCAN: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The 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, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Turks and Caicos, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago;

Zone Two — CONSANAT: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela;

Zone Three: United States of America;

Zone Four: Canada.

Jamaican Team: Females — 11-12 Christanya Shirley (one AAAA 50m freestyle); 13-14 Aaliyah Heaven (one AAAA 50m freestyle); Kokolo Foster (one AAAA 50m breaststroke); Brook Hopkins (one AAAA 50m breaststroke); Giani Francis (one AAAA 50m butterfly); Taeija-Lee Hall-Watts (one AAAA 50m butterfly); 15-17 Zaneta Alvaranga (six AAAA in 50m freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, 100m freestyle, butterfly); Gabrianna Banks (one AAAA 50m freestyle); Emily MacDonald (two AAAA 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle); Brianna Anderson (one AAAA); Sabrina Lyn (one AAAA).

Males — 11-12 Brady MacPherson Lewison (six AAAA- 50m freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, 100m backstroke, butterfly and 200m backstroke); Josh Johnson (three AAAA- 50m freestyle, butterfly and 100m butterfly); 13-14 Nelson Denny (one AAAA 50m backstroke); Jaedon Lynch (one AAAA 50m breaststroke); 15-17 Kyle Sinclair (two AAAA 50m, 100m freestyle); Nathaniel Thompson (three AAAA in 50m freestyle, backstroke, butterfly); Cameron Brown (one AAAA 50m breaststroke).

Officials: Gillian Millwood (coach) and Dr Dialo-Rudolph Brown (physical therapist).