As the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) looks to the future, four teenaged swimmers who performed exceptionally well in 2012 have been selected to represent Barbados at the 11th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, December 12 to 16.
Lani Cabrera, Zabrina Holder, Sariyah Sherry and Christian Selby are expected to form the nucleus of a new generation of swimmers who will carry the Barbados flag.
This is part of BASA’s four-year strategic plan to have at least six swimmers compete in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Cabrera, 19; Sherry, 14 and Selby, 15, are all based in the United States where they are combining swimming and academics, while 16-year-old Holder attends The St Michael School.
They have all come through the ranks, representing Barbados at CARIFTA Swimming Championships, the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) and the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships (CCCAN).
Cabrera, who attends Florida Gulf Course University, set four 18-and-over national open records this year in the 200 metres freestyle, 400 metres free – which she broke twice – as well as the 800 and 1 500 metres free. She will compete in the 200, 400 and 800 free.
Holder, who was the senior most outstanding female at the 2012 Long Course National Championships, will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly; 100 IM (individual medley) and 100 freestyle.
This year, she won gold medals in the 50m and 100m fly at the CARIFTA Games and also set national records in those two events as well as the 200 IM.
Sherry, who joined her sister Inayah at the Peddie School in New Jersey, was a medallist at the CARIFTA Games. She also won gold in the 100 free with a new meet record at CISC as well as three silver and three bronze medals. She will be competing in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 free.
Selby, the lone male in the group, has a tough work load ahead, competing in the 50, 100, 200, 400 and 1500 metres freestyle events.
This year, the sophomore at Baylor in Tennessee won one gold medal and two silver at the CARIFTA Games, as well as two gold, a silver and a bronze at CISC.
The team leaves on Sunday. The coach is Abdul Sharif and the manager is Tony Selby, BASA’s second vice-president. (PR/SAT)
