TRINIDAD EXPRESS
T&T swimmers shine at US conference championships
Tuesday, February 23rd 2010
QUALIFIED: Shannon Duval
Trinidad and Tobago nationals had a successful weekend at various United States college conference swimming championships, where many were attempting to qualify for their various divisions’ NCAA Swimming Championships.
Shannon Duval, a senior at La Salle University in Philadelphia, qualified for the NCAA Division One Championships scheduled for next month in Ohio.
Duval won gold in the 200-yard breaststroke at the Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships, held in New York. Her final time was 2:17.35. However, in the prelims she achieved a time of 2:15.07, which was faster than the B cut of 2:16.83.
She also won the 100-yard breaststroke in an impressive 1:03.85.
Duval was her university’s Student Athlete of the Month in January. She represented Trinidad and Tobago at numerous Carifta, CISC and CCCAN championships over the years and was the winner of the B final of the 200-metre breaststroke at the 2003 Pan Am Games.
At the Bluegrass Conference Championships in North Carolina, Renee Pouchet attained the NCAA Division II B cut in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events.
The junior at Limestone College, South Carolina, qualified for her first-ever championship to be held in Canton, Ohio next month, with personal bests in the events. In the 400-yard medley relay, Pouchet swam the opening leg in a B time of 58.36.
Fellow Trinidadian and Limestone freshman Nathania Pierre is set to make her NCAA Championship debut, as she swam the butterfly leg of the relay, which attained the NCAA B cut.
In her individual event, Pouchet placed fourth in the 100 backstroke prelims in 58.31 to achieve the B cut. She placed fifth in the final in 58.68.
Pouchet later went on to a blistering 2:07.24 to place fourth in the 200-yard backstroke final and also earned a B cut in that event.
Her Trinidad and Tobago teammate Donna-Marie Wickham had a difficult final year for Limestone, with this meet being her last one with the school. Dealing with a nagging back injury, Wickham had a season-best in the 100 (1:00.34) and 200-yard (2:15.33) backstroke, placing second in the B final and 22nd, respectively.
Wickham’s injury forced her to withdraw from being considered for last year’s World and CCCAN Championships, and contributed to her not qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the first time in four years at Limestone.
The Limestone trio have been members of various T&T national teams.
Pouchet and La Pierre are both members of Blue Dolphins Swim Club, while Wickham is a member of Sea Hawks SC.
Jules Graham, a senior at Howard University, won gold in the 100-yard freestyle at the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association Conference Championships in Tennessee. His 45.88-second clocking was impressive, but outside of the Division I B cut of 44.37.
Graham also won the consolation final of the 50-yard freestyle (20.93) and placed seventh in the 100-yard butterfly (51.17).
Graham’s T&T teammate and freshman Zadok Isaacs also participated in his inaugural conference championship. He won the B final of the 100-yard backstroke in 53.91 and was third in the B Final of the 200 back in 1:58.96.
At the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Nashville Tennessee, Jarryd Gregoire, while not qualifying for the NCAA Division 1 Championships, had creditable performances for his University of New Orleans team.
He earned bronze in the 50-yard freestyle in 20.89 and also helped his team to a bronze in the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays, and silver and bronze, respectively, in the 200 and 400-yard medley relay.
Gregoire also placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly (49.61) and fourth in the 100-yard free (45.76). Graham, Gregoire and Isaacs have represented Trinidad and Tobago on various national teams and are all members of Marlins Swim Club.
