St. Croix Dolphins Host 28th Annual Invitational Swim Meet

Rich Carter, president of the St. Croix Swimming Association, welcomed the teams, community and governmental guests at the opening ceremonies, including Gov. John P. deJongh Jr., who spoke about the inspiration he finds in this next generation of leaders. Also in attendance were the Lieutenant Governor Gregory R. Francis, St. Croix Administrator Dodson K. James Sr., Sen. Samuel Sanes, Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen, Commissioner Lynn A Millin Maduro of the Department of Property and Procurement, Assistant Commissioner Brad Nugent of the Department of Tourism, Director Victor Browne of the V.I. Fire Service; Director Jerris Browne of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Susan Hoffman (wife of Hovensa president David Hoffman), and Hans Lawaetz, president of the V.I. Olympic Committee and one of the founders of the Dolphins Swim Team.

The 18 visiting swimmers and 65 Dolphins swimmers, ages 5 to 26, competed in a variety of challenging swim races with distances of 50 meters to as long as 1500 meters and all four swimming strokes. Dolphins Age Group Coach Stacy Schaetz noted how much her swimmers have improved during the year. “They have concentrated on improving their stroke technique in practice, and the result of their hard work is evident in their improved race times.” An amazing 124 best times were recorded among the four teams on day one alone, with the races culminating in an exciting set of freestyle relays. Day two of the meet proved to be even faster, with 144 best times recorded, including one Virgin Islands age group record broken in the 100-meter butterfly by six-year-old Amanda MacKay of the St. Croix Dolphins with a time of 1:57.99. Another Dolphin, Kevin Hensley, qualified for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, to be held July 17 through Aug. 1, with his time of 2:33.88 in the 200-meter breaststroke.Kevin will join six other Dolphins on that squad: Ryan Nelthropp, Branden Whitehurst, Bryson Mays, Caylee Watson, Brigitte Rasmussen and Lauren Lewis.

The swimmers scored points depending on their finish places in each race, and the totaled points resulted in high point awards for the top three swimmers in each age group. High point awards were given as follows:

Head Coach John Vasbinder of the St. Croix Dolphins said, “It is always enjoyable and exciting to have teams from other islands come here and compete. These teams add such a competitive edge to the event and challenge our swimmers to do the best they can. This meet was also an excellent opportunity for our team to prepare for their upcoming competitions this summer.”

The V.I. National Team will be competing regionally in the IIXX Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC), in Havana, Cuba, from June 26 – July 2, and the aforementioned CAC Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The age group and national feam members will also compete in North Carolina from June 11-13.