Team Saint Lucia to challenge for OECS Swimming title

Saint Lucia is preparing to host some of the top swimmers from the sub-region this weekend for the 34th Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Swimming Championships. The event is set to come off at the Rodney Heights Aquatics Centre, and the hosts are fielding a strong team determined to build on a second-place finish from 2025. 

At the 33rd edition in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia finished just 24.5 points behind Grenada in the final team standings. In home waters this year, the local federation has assembled a 34-member squad that is hopeful of snatching the overall title for the first time since 2014 under head coach Roosevelt Romain.

The junior categories provide a reliable scoring base for the home team. In the boys 9-10 division, Miles Andrew enters in good form after taking the individual high-point title at the national short course championships. 

The 11-12 age group is anchored by CARIFTA Aquatics champions Tyler Dantes and Sapphire Parks. Dantes lowered his own national 50-metre backstroke record to 29.57 seconds last month, while Parks continues her heavy scoring across multiple disciplines. Having captured 10 gold medals and set two regional records at the 2025 OECS meet, Parks set five national marks at national trials in October.

In the upper divisions, swimmers like Jayden Xu, Tristan Dorville, Mikail Charlemagne, and Naekeisha Louis come with established regional pedigrees. 

Xu heads the boys 15-17 category, with strong performances in backstroke, breaststroke, and medley. USA-based Dorville leads the boys 18 and over entries, covering the sprint and middle-distance freestyle and butterfly races. In the women’s 18 and over category, Olympian Charlemagne and national teammate Louis provide the hosts with experienced options in the 50-metre and 100-metre sprint events.

Saint Lucia will be without two established swimmers for this championship. Noah Dorville and Fayth Jeffrey are unavailable for home duty, as both are currently in Dakar, Senegal, representing Saint Lucia at the Youth Olympic Games. 

Their absence removes dependable podium points in the middle-distance freestyle and individual medley races, but the technical committee expects the collective depth of the remaining roster to keep the hosts in contention for top spot throughout the three days of competition.

The 34th OECS Swimming Championships will bring together over 175 swimmers from nine territories. Defending champions Grenada and 2024 winners Antigua & Barbuda are expected to be the other main challengers for the team title, when the waves settle on Sunday afternoon at the RHAC.

(TF)