Western Bureau:
IT IS interesting that much was expected of the quartet of Leanna Wainwright, Benjamin Davis, Leah Chin, and Talon Longmore when they arrived at the Carifta Swimming Championships in Barbados last week.
What makes that interesting is the fact that the four, hailing from Montego Bay, do not have a dedicated pool in which to train.
Still, the four, Wainright with seven medals, Davis with six, Chin with three and Longmore with the same, accounted for 19 of Jamaica’s record haul at the Championships.
Jamaica would come home with 64 medals, more than on any occasion in its history. Of that 64, the Montego Bay swimmers took home five gold, nine silver and five bronze medals, breaking national and Carifta records in the process.
Wainwright described her journey to the championships where she was involved in national record-breaking performances in the 15-17 girls 4x50-metre freestyle relay, 4x100-metre freestyle relay and 4x100-metre medley relay on her way to three gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
“The journey to Carifta was not easy, hard training sessions early in the morning before school and again after school almost every day. Despite not having an ideal training facility, coach Adolfo [Morales] wrote a strategic plan for us to execute that he knew would be beneficial in taking us to the Carifta Games. The work indeed came with great rewards as we all came back with medals around our necks,” said Wainwright.
Benjamin Davis reflected on his performances and experience at the games while thanking coach Morales for his dedication.
Davis, who grabbed five silver and one bronze medal, helped Jamaica slash more than 15 seconds from the boys’ 13-14 800-metre freestyle from the previous national record, stopping the clock at 9.15.03 for silver.
“Carifta for me was an exhilarating experience. I swam close to 9000 metres, I still don’t how I did it. Not only did I swim my hardest to make finals in all my events, but I made best times in all my events including a new national 800-metre age-group record,” Benjamin said.
“Coach Adolfo told me ‘we are going to Carifta’. His dedication to us was unwavering and coaching skills are unmatched. The training was hard, and brutal at times. Sometimes the girls cried but I had to man up,” he said.
Morales reflected on the progress the sport has made in Montego Bay under his tutelage over the past five years and is looking forward to even greater things in the years to come.
“We are very proud. In 2018, no medals, then in 2019 we won only five and now in 2022, we won 19 medals. I think for 2023 we have to think about having more than just four swimmers and more medals. I thank everybody for believing in me and I promise to continue to work hard for the development of swimming in MoBay,” Morales said.