The St. Croix Dolphins Swim Team conducted its first short course meet of the season on Saturday, Oct. 15, at the V.I. Family Health and Fitness Center (Beeston Hill). The meet included 81 swimmers (43 girls, 38 boys) ranging in age from as young as five years old to 17, including nine youth swimmers from the Dolphins’ pre-team, who were competing in their first ever swim meet. The races included varying distances (from 25 meters to 400 meters) and strokes such as freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly.
The Dolphins swam very well, with 187 personal best times achieved.
Virgin Islands Short Course Records Broken
Six new Virgin Islands records were broken during the meet. Matthew Mays broke Morgan Locke’s record from 1999 in the boys age 11-12, 200m backstroke with a time of 2:35.31. He also took Kevin Hensley’s record in the boys age 11-12, 400m individual medley (IM), with a time of 5:36.97. His brother, Bryson Mays, broke the record in the boys age 15-17, 50m butterfly with a time of 27.16 (record was previously set by Morgan Locke in 2003). He broke two records in the boys 50m breaststroke with a time of 31.47 (the age 15-17 and open records were previously held by Branden Whitehurst). Brigitte Rasmussen broke her own record from last year in the girls age 15-17, 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:53.97. Finally, Chloe Philips-Hayden broke Sarah Ridgeway’s record from 1998 in the girls age 11-12, 50m breaststroke with a time of 39.72
John Vasbinder, head coach, said, “This was the first short course meet of the year for our team, and I was very pleased with how the kids did. They stayed focused until the very end and truly did their best.”
The Dolphins have two additional short course meets this year. In November, 16 team members will be traveling to Princeton, N.J., and 10 to St. Maarten to compete. In December, the Dolphins will participate in the Virgin Islands Swimming Federation Short Course Championships.
For additional information, please contact John Vasbinder at 719-7946.
