Tornadoes coach impressed by young swimmers
Following their dominant performance to take the top prize at the 2022 Dean Martin Swimming Championship over the weekend, Wendy Lee, head coach for the Tornadoes Swim Club, says her coaching staff is particularly happy with the performances of the younger swimmers.
She noted that many of the junior swimmers have had to overcome the hurdle of limited training opportunity due to the novel coronavirus pandemic restrictions and are now “putting in the work”.
“The coaches are very happy with our swimmers’ performances as we are already seeing our junior swimmers swimming personal bests and our senior swimmers swimming close to their best times.
“The coaches focused mostly on foundation training for this meet. The general background fitness that the swimmers will need to have strong finishes in their races, we did see that in the races this weekend,” Lee told the Jamaica Observer.
“This season we have a large cohort of 10-and-under swimmers who are competing and performing at the highest levels. And our current 10 and under swimmers are the best group of swimmers the club has seen in a long time,” Lee added.
After three days of competition ended on Sunday at the National Aquatics Centre, the Tornadoes Swim Club emerged with 1,023 points ahead of Y-Speedos Swim Club with 813 points. The AquaMarine Ripples came in third with 566.5 points, Kaizen Swim Club came in fourth with 193, Swimaz Aquatic Swim Club came in fifth with 181 points, Blue Marlin Swim Club came in sixth with 131 points, Viking Swim Club came in seventh with 105 points, Salt Fish Academy came in eighth with 52 points, Blue Seals Swim Club came in ninth with 17.5 points, Marlins Swim Club came in 10th with nine points, and Royals Swim Club came in 11th with three points.
Nathaniel Thomas of the Tornadoes lowered his record in the boys’ 17-18 100-m backstroke from 1:02.09 to an impressive 59.86.
Aliyah Heaven, Ireland Hunter, and Khiara Romes swept the top three spots, respectively, for Tornadoes Club in the girls’ 15-16 200m freestyle.
In the boys’ 13 and over 200m medley relay, the team of Rim Gayle, Kabiki Thomas, Nathaniel Thomas, and Zachary Jackson-Blaine took first place in a new record time of 1:55.02, erasing the mark of 1:55.2 set by the Y-Speedos Club.
