Daraine Luton, Freelance Writer
Wayne Campbell of Dolphins on her way to winning heat 2 of the girls 8 and under 50 LC metre freestyle at the Walter Rodgers Age Group swimming championships which ended at the National Stadium Pool yesterday. - ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
NATIONAL SWIMMER Brad Hamilton led Tornadoes Swim Club to championship honours as the curtains fell on the four-day Walter Rogers Age Group Championships at the National Stadium pool yesterday.
Tornadoes amassed 2,067.5 points to relegate last year's winners Y-Speedos Swim Club (1,583 points) into second place. Stringray's Swim Club out of the Cayman Islands (506) narrowly beat Blue Seal (502) for third place.
Hamilton, Jamaica's lone male swimmer to have qualified for the Commonwealth Games, accounted for five of the 24 records broken at the meet. Swimming in the 15 and Over age-group category, Hamilton established records in the 200 metres breaststroke, 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m butterfly and the 200m butterfly.
Hamilton also beat the old marks in the 50m breaststroke and the 100m breaststroke but, will not hold the record as Dominic Lee beat him in both of these events.
Of the 24 new records, three were national marks. Dolphin Swim Club's Shae-Ashley Owen accounted for one. She set a new mark in the girls 9-10 50m freestyle with a 22.66 clocking. The old national record of 30.91 was set in 1999 by Alia Atkinson.
Dominique Dawson of Tor-nadoes accounted for other in the girls 13-14 50m butterfly. Dawson's time of 31.91 erased Jordan Spencer's old mark of 32.14.
Blue Seal's Kendese Nangle swam 33.88 seconds in the girls 11-12 50m butterfly. Dawson held the previous record of 34.27.
TOP PERFORMER
Meanwhile, Hamilton was the top performer in the 15 and Over category with 117 points, while Gillian Millwood with 84 points emerged tops in the female 15 and Over category. The boy's 13-14 category was topped by Ramon Walton, while Dominique Dawson topped the female section.
In the lower age groups, Steven Moodie and Nangle finished atop the 11-12 category for male and female respectively, so too did Antoine Young and Stefani Webley in the 9-10 age group. Robert Marshall was the best 8 and Under male swimmer, while Gabrielle Hopkins won the female equivalent.
