Roman Blitzes Records In Pool

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Jackie Walter, head coach of champions Tornadoes Swim Club, says she was impressed with the performance of Breanna Roman during last weekend's Christmas Open Swim Meet at the National Stadium.

Tornadoes, led by Timothy Wynter, Joseph Black, D'Agaene Clarke and Tiara Myrie, won the meet after recording 1009.5 points.

Swimaz Aquatic Swim Club (577.5) ended second, while Y-Speedos (421) finished third.

However, the meet's most outstanding performer was Swimaz's Roman, who broke nine individual and two team records - being a member of her club's 400m freestyle and 400m medley relay teams.

Roman established personal bests in seven of the events and equalled another personal record.

"Overall, who stood out most for me was Breanna Roman, not so much that she broke nine meet records, but she set a number of personal bests and that is what impressed me," said Walter.

ROMAN'S RECORDS

Roman's individual records came in the blue-riband girl's 50m (27.95 equalled PB), 100m (1:00.01 PB/1:00.06 previous best), 200m (2:15.23 PB/2:16.35) and 400m (4:53.28/4:40.83 PB) freestyle events, the 50m (34.80 PB/35.02),100m (1:14.27 PB/1:17.14) and 200m (2:45.70 PB/2:45.89) breaststroke and the 200m (2:32.91 PB/2:39.36) and 400m (5:37.75 PB) individual medley.

Walter was also fairly satisfied with her club's effort.

"Winning is a good thing, but one of the aims from the club's point of view was to see where our swimmers are as we prepare them for the regional competitions next year and that was achieved," said Walter, who recently retired from her long-standing position as head coach of the national swim team.

"I was pleased as a number of swimmers who had put in the hard work achieved personal bests.

"There were some, however, who did not put in as much and it point to what we need to do with regards to them; and one way we plan to address this is by the staging of our annual Christmas period training camp later this month," she added.

Wynter, who was overseas but returned recently, won the boys' 50-metre backstroke and 400m freestyle in 29.16 and 4:39.51 seconds, respectively.

The club's next best male performer was Black, who took home the boys' 10-12 200m butterfly title in 3:14.92 and the 50m backstroke in 36.71.

Clarke, in the meantime, topped the club's female category after winning the girl's 10-12 50m freestyle in 28.67.

Myrie, who won the girl's 10-12 200m butterfly in 3:07.45, was Tornadoes' next best swimmer.

Swimaz's Kevaughn Campbell also established two records in the breaststroke event, clocking 1:13.58 in the boys' 100m and 2:45.55 in the 200m.

Most of the top swimmers from the meet are expected to be part of an Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica training camp, in preparation for next year's Carifta Island Swimming Championships.

The camp will be held from December 28-January 5 and will be held under the tutelage of coach Gianluca Albernani from Florida, United States.

It will also coincide with a training camp that will be held by McMaster University out of Ontario, Canada. Their camp, which will feature 37 swimmers, is slated to begin on December 27.

McMaster University are also down to face-off with members of Jamaica's training squad at a meet on December 31.