As of Wednesday, June 8, 2022

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#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#All attention this weekend will be on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One Outdoor Track and Field Championships when at least seven Bahamian athletes and four coaches are expected to compete for their respective schools at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

#The championships will be staged starting today and is scheduled to wrap up on Saturday.

#Heading the men’s list of entries is Texas Tech’s Terrence Jones Jr, who will be competing in the preliminaries of the men’s 100 metres with a season and lifetime best of 10.03 seconds.

#The Grand Bahamian who has already qualified for the World Championships will compete in lane four in the first of three heats that starts today at 5:46pm. The top two finishers and the next three best times will advance to the final on Friday at 6:52pm.

#The men’s 200m will have a competitor in Wanya McCoy, a freshman at Clemson, who will run out of lane five in the second of three heats that get underway at 6:44pm. He has produced his season and personal best of 20.48 coming into the meet. Again, the top two finishers and the next three best times will advance to the final on Friday at 7:37pm.

#It’s not known if either or both Jones and McCoy will compete on their men’s 4 x 100m relay team, but junior Adrian Curry is listed on Ohio State’s team that will compete in lane nine of the third and final heat, which begins at 4:32pm on Friday. The two winners of each heat and the next three best times will advance to the final on Friday at 6:02pm.

#Two competitors will round out the men’s participation in the meet as they go head-to-head in the men’s high jump.

#Shaun Miller, a junior at Ohio State, will be the first of 24 competitors with Kyle Alcine, a senior at Kansas State, will be the fifth competitor in action. They will compete on Friday, starting at 5:30pm.

#They are both enjoying their best seasons ever, having recorded personal bests of 7-feet, 3 ¾-inches or 2.23m for Miller and 7- ½ (2.15m) for Alcine.

#The lone competitor competing in an individual women’s track event will be University of Kentucky’s sophomore Megan Moss, who will run out of lane four in the first of three heats in the 400m with her season and personal best of 52.07. The competition will start at 7pm on Thursday and the top two winners in each heat and the next three finishers will contest the final on Saturday at 3:32pm.

#Moss is also listed on Kentucky’s 4 x 400m relay team that includes Karimah Davis, Dajour Miles and Alexis Homles. They are entered in lane six in the last of three heats, starting at 8:48pm.

#The top two each of heat and the next three fastest finishers will advance to the final on Saturday at 4:51pm.

#And Tennessee’s junior Charisma Taylor, who is nursing a slight injury, will round off the Bahamian participation in the women’s triple jump.

#She is entered with a season’s best of 44-4 (13.51m) and a personal best of 44-8 ¾ (13.63) as the 12th and final competitor in the first of two flights. Their competition will get underway on Saturday at 2:50pm.

#At least four Bahamian coaches will also be participating in the championships with their athletes.

#Head coach Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene and his assistant Debbie Ferguson- McKenzie will represent the University of Kentucky, head coach Norbert Elliott will lead Purdue University and triple jumper Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands will be a part of the Florida State University delegation.

As of Thursday, June 9, 2022

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DENISHA Cartwright

#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Tribune Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#MINNESOTA State Mavericks sprinter Denisha Cartwright has been honoured by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for her stellar outdoor season.

#Cartwright was named the USTFCCCA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year yesterday when the organisation announced its annual rewards.

#Cartwright recently led the Mavericks women’s team to a third place finish and added a 100m hurdles national championship title at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.

#She topped the field in 13.35 seconds to become the first Maverick to win a national title in the event in programme history. After a bronze medal finish in the 2021 championships, Cartwright returned to improve on that performance with a gold medal and one of three First Team All-American honours in 2022.

#She also earned All- America Honours in the 100m, 200m and as a member of the 4x100m relay team.

#Cartwright teamed up with Makayla Jackson, Ja’Cey Simmons, and Rose Cramer to finish first in the 4x100m relay with a time of 44.29, another first in Maverick history.

#A busy meet for Cartwright also included a fourth place finish in the 200m (23.55) and seventh place finish in the 100m (11.94) to earn another pair of First Team All-American Honours.

#The Mavericks scored 57 points to finish third in the team standings, the best team finish in programme history.

#At the conference level, she was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.

#Cartwright won four All- NSIC honours at the NSIC Championships last month, including first place finishes in the 100m hurdles and the 4×100 relay events.

#Over the course of the season she was named the NSIC Track Athlete of the Week four times.

#In her debut season with the Mavericks, Cartwright was named the NSIC Outdoor Track & Field Newcomer of the Year in 2021.

#Her Maverick outdoor campaign included first team All-American honours in four events at the Division II Championships.

#She finished third in the 100m hurdles, seventh in the 200m, eighth in the 100m and was a member of the second-place finishing 4x100m relay team.

#At the Conference level, Cartwright was the NSIC champion in the 100m hurdles and also won all-conference honours in the 100m and 200m.

#Prior to Minnesota State, Cartwright was a member of the Central State Marauders in her true freshman season.

#She was named to the USTFCCCA South Region Athlete of the Year and was scheduled to become the first CSU women to compete in multiple events at the NCAA Div. II Indoor Championships in March 2020 prior to the event being cancelled due to the public health threat of COVID-19.

MIAMI Marlins’ Miguel Rojas (11) and Bryan De La Cruz (14) congratulate Jazz Chisholm Jr. after Chisholm hit a grand slam in the second inning against the Washington Nationals Tuesday. (AP Photos/Marta Lavandier)

As of Thursday, June 9, 2022

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#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Tribune Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#JASRADO “Jazz” Chisholm Jr broke out of his recent slump with an electrifying performance and continues to build his résumé toward a 2022 National League All-Star berth.

#The Miami Marlins star had two home runs, including his first grand slam and a career high six RBI to power the Marlins’ 12-2 win over the Washington Nationals Tuesday night at loanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.

#He joined Jorge Soler as the only Marlins players with multi home-run games this season.

#Chisholm entered the game 2-29 at the plate since his return from a hamstring injury on May 29, but dominated Tuesday night’s contest.

#In the second inning, Chisholm faced a 3-0 count from Nationals pitcher Joan Adon with the bases loaded and connected on a four-seam fastball outside the strike zone and sent it over the centrefield wall for his first career grand slam.

#“My first at bat I honestly wasn’t about to swing because he’s not really in the zone as much. Honestly it was a ball, I saw it and it looked good to me so I just went and swung at it and it resulted in a homer. First career grand slam.”

#According to ESPN Stats and Into, he became the first player in Marlins history to hit a grand slam on a 3-0 count. He is now on pace for 30 home-runs which no Marlins middle infielder has done since Dan Uggla (2010).

#Marlins manager Don Mattingly said Chisholm and the remainder of the lineup generally has the freedom to swing with the favourable 3-0 count.

#“Honestly it’s always on their own, unless I don’t want them swinging, so then it’s more of a take off,” he said. “There it’s easy to say don’t do it but on the other side of that coin we can break this game wide open and that’s really what happened there.

#“Some guys don’t like to swing there but obviously that was one he must have felt good about.”

#Chisholm returned in the fifth inning and blasted a two-run shot off Andres Machado to give Miami a 12-0 lead. He attributed his recent struggles to become reacclimated to his pre-injury timing and routines.

#“That’s just getting your timing back, getting the feeling back. It’s like not playing for months and getting back into spring training.

#“With this it was going from playing everyday and then you go into seven days of not playing, you just got to try to revamp what you had going on, I’m just trying to get back to that and [Tuesday night] it felt better. This entire week it felt better than the past week.”

#Offensively, the Marlins hit four home runs, but Chisholm celebrated the performance on the mound from Edward Cabrera, the no.47 prospect in MLB Pipeline.

#He was the first Marlins prospect to pitch at least six innings and allow two hits or fewer in each of his first two starts of a season.

#“That’s my boy,” he said. “Edward, he goes out there, he works hard, he wants to win everyday and shout out to him because he comes out everyday and gives his all. I have a lot of respect for Edward.”

#The Marlins offensive outburst reportedly came after a 90-minute “players only” meeting.

#“We’re good,” he said. “We just came out there and knew what we had to do, and that’s all I can say about that.”

#Through 43 games this season, Chisholm is second on the Marlins with 10 home runs and is hitting .255 with a .310 OBP, slugging .541 with an .851 OPS, seven doubles, four triples, 37 RBI, 40 hits and nine stolen bases.

#Voting for the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game is now underway. Ballots can be cast on MLB. com and cast your ballot, up to five times a day every 24 hours.

#The first phase of the voting runs through June 30 at 2pm. Then, there will be two finalists announced at each position (six outfielders) and the vote totals reset for the final days of voting July 5-8.

As of Thursday, June 9, 2022

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#THE Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) is pleased to partner with the urban renewal programme to provide tennis lessons to the wider community.

#This initiative of the Ministry of Social Services under the auspices of urban renewal will be offered to scores of children in the inner cities of Nassau and eventually all over The Bahamas. Minister of State Lisa Rahming, who has spearheaded this noteworthy venture, welcomed the young people at Lou Adderley Park in Marathon to participate in the sporting activities along with First Lady Ann Marie Davis.

#Uniting with urban renewal to branch out into the communities has been a God sent for the association which continues to build on outreach, development and tennis sustainability. The BLTA welcomed over 60 children to the National Tennis Centre in the first week.

#The majority of the kids had their first encounter with tennis on the tennis courts at NTC. Despite the rainy conditions, this did not overshadow the lessons and, in fact, this was an opportunity to do some creative drills before heading on the court.

#BLTA President Perry Newton stated that there are many talented young children in the inner cities who will now have this wonderful opportunity and experience.

#“We intend to run a structured programme that will introduce young people to the sport. It is exciting to see the opportunity that the government’s urban renewal programme is offering. We are pleased that tennis will be a medium for the children to learn new skills, improve health and wellness and encourage camaraderie and build social skills.

#“Transforming the lives of so many through the Play Tennis Bahamas programme will meet the goal of urban renewal to develop and empower young people. The BLTA is extremely excited to be a part of this worthy initiative with urban renewal to build up, inspire, challenge, develop and grow the youth of our nation.”

Photo: Thinq Studio

As of Thursday, June 9, 2022

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#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Tribune Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#AFTER finishing 1-1 in the first weekend of 2022 Concacaf Nations League play, the Bahamas senior men’s national team returns home to the Thomas A Robinson Stadium to face Nicaragua.

#The Bahamas continues play in Group C of League A on June 10 when they host Nicaragua at 5pm. They complete the home and away series against Nicaragua on June 13 at 8pm at the Nicaraguan National Stadium.

#After a 1-0 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines at home followed by a 1-0 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on the road, veteran striker and team captain Lesly St Fleur said Team Bahamas remains confident headed into the weekend.

#“I think we have shown we can play against any team,” following the matchup against Trinidad and Tobago. “Going back to our home game against Nicaragua, we are going in hard and we will come away with the victory.”

#Nicaragua also comes in at 1-0-1 after they defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 and played St Vincent and the Grenadines to a 2-2 tie.

#“We had a chance to watch the game and we saw the cracks in Nicaragua’s defence. We’re working on capitalising on that,” said Bahamas goalkeeper Julio Jemison. “We saw a few weaknesses in Nicaragua’s defensive line, we’re looking to make runs behind them and also a lot of balls in the air because they’re a really short team. We plan on utilising [our taller players], that height will be a real advantage for us and we are expecting a good result. The result against T and T wasn’t what we needed but the game was good, it helped show us that we can compete with these teams and even more so we can beat them.”

Sports

The Nassau GuardianSend an emailJune 8, 2022 252 1 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

For over eight intense hours, young chess players paired up at boards, fists on cheeks, contemplating their next moves at the 46th Annual Bahamas Junior Chess Championships. In the end, it was Curtis Pride Jr. who came out on top as the overall champion.

This championship was a qualifier for the Bahamas National Championships set for November 2002 and Pride has earned a spot. The Bahamas Junior Chess Championship was organized by the Bahamas Chess Federation (BCF). Participants played an intense five rounds of two-hour games.

BCF President Candidate Master (CM) Kendrick Knowles congratulated Pride for the victory and the other players.

“It’s a pleasure seeing our juniors compete during this tournament,” Knowles said. “In chess there are players and pieces, and the ratio is 1:16. One player has to manage 16 pieces; this many to one ratio is very similar to other aspects of life.”

Pride defeated his younger brother Avian Pride to be crowned junior champion. Curtis Pride finished with 4.5 points while Avian scored four points. Noah Albury also scored four points and finish third overall. The top female was Chika Pride.

Knowles continued, speaking about how the juniors can learn life lessons from chess.

“It’s always good to reflect that although we teach and encourage young people to play chess, we are also imagining how we can transfer the skills of managing a chess game to managing a group of people. It’s all very exciting when you think of the possibilities. Problem solving, self-control and effective management of resources are all virtues that young people can carry on to adult life – through playing chess,” Knowles said.

The next tournament on the BCF’s calendar is the Warren Seymour Classic scheduled for Saturday June 25.

Sports

The Nassau GuardianSend an emailJune 8, 2022 224 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

Training is essential for basketball players on and off the court as well as for those responsible for officiating games. Ensuring that referees in The Bahamas are trained and compliant with all official basketball rules, the Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) recently partnered with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) for a FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Referee Training Course. 

The 10-day training session, which accommodated more than 25 participants, was a comprehensive modality mix delivered via Zoom and in-person. Training focused on official FIBA basketball rules and interpretation; levels one to three refereeing; three-person refereeing mechanics; FIBA basketball knowledge; on-court practical and mechanics; and game practical exercises.

RBDF Commander, BBF 2nd Vice President and FIBA National Instructor Freddy Brown explained why the collaboration with the BBF works.

“We generally run the Physical Fitness Instructor’s Training Course every other year and part of that course is for all of our instructors to receive some information about all the sports and to get certified if possible. As the authority of basketball in the country, the BBF was called to conduct this exercise for the RBDF,” he explained.

 The referees in training had to complete a fitness test and on-court practicals, referee/coaches training along with a written online test.

 Referee training participant Aniska Bonaby was grateful for the training, networking, and opportunity to apply skills learned on the court to become an official referee one day.

 “The course was very informative and opened my eyes to new things and opportunities besides just working out. I discovered that you can become a referee for all sorts of sports. Commander Brown informed us that there are opportunities for females in the referee industry. This was timely for me because there are times when you want to branch out and do new things and now the game of basketball as a referee is a possibility,” Bonaby said. 

The course, facilitated by Commander Brown and delivered by a team of seasoned FIBA certified trainers including Terez Conliffe, former FIBA referee and recent FIBA Commissioner; Christian Wilmore, FIBA referee and World Cup referee; Rochelle Kemp, FIBA table/statistician; Christine Cunningham, FIBA table/statistician; Norman Humes, former FIBA referee and commissioner and currently FIBA games director; and Eustacia Smith, certified FIBA referee.

BBF President Eugene Horton lauded the partnership with RBDF for the benefit of Bahamians to gain new skills by becoming FIBA certified.

“The federation prides itself on development and training as we believe in skilled individuals on and off the court. We are happy to assist and look forward to further collaborations,” Horton said.

Upon completion of the rigorous training, each participant is required to referee a minimum of two official games using the FIBA three-person refereeing mechanics.

Goalie battles back from severe knee injuries to play for The Bahamas in Nations League competition

Simba FrenchSend an emailJune 8, 2022 278 4 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – Julio Jemison has been one of the top local custodians in goal for The Bahamas in the game of soccer. However, the goalkeeper has had two major surgeries. Be that as it may, he did not let that stop him from getting back between the posts and performing well for The Bahamas. Jemison rose to the top. He’s currently the starting goalkeeper for The Bahamas senior men’s national soccer team, helping them get a victory in the first window of the 2022 CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) Nations League competition last Friday.

Jemison, an electrical engineering major at the University of The Bahamas (UB), received a message from senior men’s national team head coach Nesly Jean back in March of this year, asking if he was interested in playing on the national team. Jemison answered that call and began training. This past Friday against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jemison got a clean sheet as The Bahamas won 1-0.

“Going into that game I just wanted to keep the sheet clean,” Jemison said. “After the 25th minute, we did not concede a goal which was good because we tend to give up one goal in the first 25 minutes. Once we got past that period, the game started to shift. My first big save came in the 28th minute. It helped with my confidence and my drive.”

Jemison is set to start once again for The Bahamas this coming Friday when they take on Nicaragua at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium. He said it was a great feeling being back on the team playing for The Bahamas and added that it was an uphill battle to get back to this point. The UB senior first tore his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and medial and lateral meniscus in his right knee in 2016. After bouncing back, he tore the meniscus in that same knee in 2019. After the first injury healed, Jemison was able to play in the FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) Beach Soccer World Cup in The Bahamas in 2017.

“In 2019, I suffered another setback and tore my meniscus in the same right knee. That one was a tough one. Coming back after one was rough but two, it is a different type of battle there. That happened in a game against Turks and Caicos,” Jemison recalled.

The second injury was a tough one for him to come back from. After the surgery, and when the pain medications had wore off, Jemison realized how much of a battle he had ahead of him if he wanted to return to playing sports. The 28-year-old began rehabilitation of the knee a week after surgery.

“I had to get that range of motion back. That is one of the toughest parts – getting that range of motion back. Afterwards, I did strength training as I went from pushing 2-3 plates with my legs forward and back to 10 points. It was, it was embarrassing a little. Everybody else lifting those big weights, and here I was trying to get it in but it was tough. I was up at 5 o’ clock every morning getting some therapy and sometimes I was back again in the afternoons because there was a lot of work to be done,” Jemison said. “After I got most of the strengthening done, then I went into balancing, which is the tricky part of things. I did some single-leg balancing and after that I did some sports-specific movements and that along with the balancing was the scary part.”

Jemison was working hard to get back to his old form when he helped UB capture the Bahamas Football Association’s (BFA) Senior League men’s title for the 2017-2018 season. He had a few down moments, pondering on whether or not he should have returned to the soccer pitch.

“There were a few times when I was like maybe I should just hang it up, call it quits, but I saw myself watching the soccer from home and watching the boys play and I just couldn’t keep still. Watching UB going through its rough period was rough as well because I’m the leader of the team. I helped the guys get through those tough periods. It was tough sitting on the sidelines and watching them go through more tough periods. I was yearning to get back on the pitch,” Jemison said.

It took him a year and a half to get his confidence back for him to return to the field.

“The doctor who did the surgery, Winston Philips, wasn’t convinced that I could have done the things that I’m doing now. He was not sure if I should be able to do that. After he said that, I knew that I had to do extra work in order to get back. I spent more time in the gym. When I started to come back, UB training had started so I would still wake up at 5 a.m. to go to training and hit the gym while they were training,” said Jemison.

The hard work paid off for him as in late 2021, he returned to playing soccer when he suited up for UB when they went on the road to play Johnson University in Kissimmee, Florida.

Jemison started his second straight game for the senior men’s national team on Monday. His confidence is back along with his mental toughness. His advice for those who might have suffered a similar injury is to keep fighting through it although it will be tough.

Sheldon LongleySend an emailJune 9, 2022 190 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

Bahamian professional baseball player with the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB) Jasrado ‘Jazz’ Chisholm Jr. broke out of a 3-for-38 slump, including being hitless in his last 17 at-bats, with a huge performance on Tuesday night, drilling two monster shots over the outfield wall at loanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, to lead the Marlins to a convincing 12-2 win over the Washington Nationals.

Chisholm finished 2-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs (runs batted in) and two runs scored on Tuesday, leading the Marlins to the emphatic win. The two teams played again last night, but the result was unavailable up to press time.

On Tuesday, Chisholm had a grand slam home run in the bottom of the second to give the Marlins a 5-0 lead and a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to give them a massive 12-0 lead.

With the performance, Chisholm had the second multi-home run game of his career, his first career grand slam home run and the first six-RBI game of his career. His previous single game high for RBIs prior to Tuesday’s performance was four, which he had in a 2-for-5 performance against the Colorado Rockies earlier this month.

For the season, Chisholm is batting .255 with 10 home runs, 37 RBIs and 26 runs scored. He missed some time for hamstring tightness last month and struggled initially in his return but now appears to be back in the swing of things. His performance on Tuesday was the 11th time this season he’s had multiple hits in a game, and as mentioned, it was his second career multi-home run game.

“We’re good. We just came out there and knew what we had to do, and that’s all I can say about that,” said Chisholm to MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola after the game.

Chisholm remains among the team leaders in a number of offensive categories and is regarded as one of the top young second basemen in the league.

As a club, the Marlins have a 23-30 win/loss record – fourth in the National League East Division behind the front-running New York Mets (38-20), the World Series Champions Atlanta Braves (29-27) and the Philadelphia Phillies (26-29). The Nationals bring up the rear in that division with a 21-36 record.

On Tuesday, after grounding out in his first at-bat in the first inning, Chisholm lifted a 3-0 pitch from Nationals’ starter Joan Adon, with the bases loaded, over the wall in center field in the bottom of the second inning for a grand slam home run. Chisholm struck out on a foul tip in the bottom of the fourth, and then connected for his second home run of the day an inning later when he jumped on the first pitch he saw from Nationals’ reliever Andres Machado – an 88.1 miles per hour (mph) slider – and went to left field this time with a runner on base. Chisholm struck out swinging in the bottom of the seventh.

The 24-year-old 

Bahamian is still having a breakout second season in the majors. He has an on-base percentage (OBP) of .310, a slugging percentage (SLG) of .541, and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .851. Chisholm also has nine stolen bases, setting himself up nicely for a potential 30-30 season.

Defensively, Chisholm has 68 putouts and 91 assists in 162 total chances this season. He has helped turn 17 double plays and has a fielding percentage of .981. The Marlins’ leadoff hitter is still well on his way to his first career MLB All-Star selection. Fan balloting for the all-star game began Wednesday and Chisholm is expected to get a fair share of votes for second basemen in the National League. The MLB All-Star Game, also known as the ‘Midsummer Classic’, is set for July 19 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

For the Marlins, after their series with the Nationals, they will go on the road for three games against the Houston Astros before traveling to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to face the Phillies.

Sports

Simba FrenchSend an emailJune 9, 2022 149 1 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

The Bahamas Aquatics Federation has ratified a four-member team to represent The Bahamas at the FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Aquatics Championships set for Budapest, Hungary, in less than two weeks’ time. Competition gets underway on Saturday, June 18 and wraps up on Sunday, July 3.

Competing for The Bahamas at the 19th edition of the championships at the Duna Arena in Budapest, are Lilly Higgs, Izaak Bastian, Lamar Taylor and Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson.

Sara Knowles is the team’s head coach. Rochelle Bastian is the team manager and Cordero Bonamy is the physiotherapist.

President of Bahamas Aquatics Algernon Cargill said they feel the team will make its presence felt in Budapest.

“We expect the team to do well and we expect to have positive representation. We’re very excited about this team,” Cargill said.

Taylor and Thompson are still collegiate swimmers – Taylor at Henderson State University and Thompson at Howard University. Cargill said this will be good for not only the younger ones but the older ones as well.

“It’s going to be a first-time experience for Thompson and Taylor at the FINA World Championships. Taylor has previously represented The Bahamas at the world short course championships. It’s going to be a good experience for all four members and hopefully we’ll get some semifinals and maybe final swims,” Cargill said.

This is Bastian’s second time swimming at these championships, having represented The Bahamas at the 18th edition in Gwangju, South Korea, in 2019. Bastian and Taylor were in Budapest for the FINA World Junior Championships in 2019. Higgs, Taylor and Bastian were in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in December 2021, for the world short course championships. Thompson represented The Bahamas in April at the 2022 CARIFTA Games in which she helped captain the team to a fourth straight championship victory. This will be the first time that the 17-year-old represents the country at the senior level.

Higgs and Bastian just graduated from university – Higgs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and Bastian from Florida State University (FSU). Bastian will head to Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), pursuing a doctorate degree in physiotherapy.

Cargill will be in Budapest for the FINA Bureau meetings, representing the CCCAN (Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation) region.