ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA’S JADON WUILLIEZ IN SIZZLING FORM FOR TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY AT USC INVITE

Antigua and Barbuda’s Jadon Wuilliez competed in just his second official meet for the Texas Christian University at the USC (University of Southern California Invite ) from October 15-16 but the times he produced were eye catching . The freshman produced swims that will turn heads in the region .It will also enable his nation to have a core of swimmers to be competitive at regional and international meets in the relay events.

Jadon Wuilliez Photo courtesy of Texas Christian University

Competing for the Horned Frogs in the 100 yard breaststroke he shattered his personal best in the event by more than two seconds. In his NCAA debut against the University of Texas Permian Basin he had produced a time of 57.54. In sunny California he put together splits of 25.60 and 28.78 to finish in 54.38 . That placed him sixth overall. It also ranks him fifth in Horned Frogs school history. Let us look at that swim in the context of CARIFTA region swimming. Firstly in just his second collegiate race he is just off the NCAA Division I B standard of 54.27.

His time also puts him amongst the best the Caribbean has produced

ALL TIME TOP CARIBBEAN BREASTSTROKE PERFORMERS

Jadon continued to display his breaststroke skills in the 400 yard medley relay. He put down the the third fastest breaststroke split of the 13 teams. He was timed at 53.41. The Horned Frogs were the seventh fastest team on the day with a total time of 3:16.58.

In the sprint medley he put a fast early season breaststroke split of 24.35.His team placed 8th in the 200 yard medley in 1:29.79. In the longest breaststroke he put down an early season marker of 2:05.48 (split time 1:00.21). His personal best set in 2016 had stood at 2:16.38.

THREATENING SUB 20

Wuilliez has put his hat in the ring to see who will be the fastest Caribbean sprinter this season. He crushed his 50 yard freestyle personal best of 21.23 leading off the 200 yard freestyle relay against University of Texas Permian Basin. At the Uytengsu Aquatics Center Jadon dropped a time of 20.31 to place 11th. That speed was seen again in the 200 yard freestyle relay. His second leg of 20.07 helped his team to 1:20.77. That is the fourth fastest time in school history. It also placed the team fourth in California.

Jadon comes from the Plymouth Leander institution based in the United Kingdom. Plymouth t has produced some of the top swimmers in the region to include countryman and Olympian Stefano Mitchell , Saint Lucians Olympian Jean Luc Zephir, Jamaican national record holder Masai Zebechaka, Bahamian Victoria Russell and Youth Olympics Gold medallist Christian Homer from Trinidad and Tobago among others.

With his swims at the USC Invite Wuilliez now holds all the national records short course yards, short course metres and long course metres in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke events. He also owns the 50 yard freestyle national record beating the 20.81 Stefano Mitchell put up on the board earlier this year.

Texas Christian University amassed 1,098 points to finish third in the four team competition. The home team USC Trojans won with 1,741.5 with University of Nevada Las Vegas second with 1,233.5.

JOSIAH MORALES’ MEDLEY RELAY TEAM SETS NAIA LEADING MARK IN 400 YARD MEDLEY RELAY

Josiah Morales Photo courtesy of wbuathletics.com

Trinidad and Tobago’s Josiah Morales was a part of the Wayland Baptist Pioneers that set a NAIA nation leading mark in the 400 yard medley relay at the school’s invitational. The meet which was held from October 21 to 22 in Lubbock Texas saw Morales producing a number of top 10 NAIA performances.

In the 400 yard medley relay the team of Nico Ruiz –Rojas (backstroke), Bjoern Globke (breaststroke), Morales (butterfly) and Henri Günther (freestyle) produced the top time in the NAIA of 3:31.56. That easily bettered their season opener of 3:33.03. Their margin of victory at the meet was over 5 seconds.

In the 200 yard medley the personnel was the same except for the freestyle leg where David Caravjal swam. The Pioneers A team beat the 2^nd place team by more than 3 seconds to win in a time of 1:36.43 .That performance places them 4^th in the NAIA.

In completing his trifecta of wins Josiah had winning margin of over a second in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:56.88. That has him ranked as the 2^nd fastest in the NAIA.

In the 500 yard freestyle Morales just missed out on lowered his personal best of 5:04.01 set in 2014 when he hit the wall in 5:05.91 for 5^th.

He placed 5^th in the 400 yard individual medley in a time of 4:34.46 and 7^th  in the 200 yard breaststroke in a time of 2:24.86.

The Pioneers finished 2^nd in the 4 team competition with 834 points. The meet was won by The University of Texas-Permian Basin with 1,296 points.

DEANDRE SMALL OPENS 2016-217 SEASON WITH A RELAY WIN

Deandre Small Photo courtesy of wbuathletics.com

Deandre Small of Barbados got her 2016-2017 NAIA season off with a relay win as the Wayland Baptist Pioneer ladies faced off against the women of the University of Texas –Permian Basin on Friday Sep 30.

 

Small teamed with Darby Dehass, Andrea Bond and Maria Barrera to take top honours in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Deandre’s anchor leg split was 25.83. She was again among the podium party in the 100 yard breaststroke. The junior from Bridgetown had the early lead at the halfway mark but lost out at the touch in a time of 1:10.29. The win went Anouk van Nellestijn of University of Texas –Permian Basin in 1:09.68. In the 100 yard freestyle she was 3^rd in a time of 57.10.Small, who represented Barbados at the World Short Swimming Championships in 2014 also holds a number of school records. Deandre has the school standards in the 50 yard freestyle 24.06,100 yard backstroke 59.45, 200 yard backstroke 2:09.48and 100 yard breaststroke 1:06.47

Teammate Hadassah Morales of Trinidad and Tobago was 4^th in the 100 yard backstroke in a time of 1:08.05.She placed 6^th in the 50 yard freestyle in a time of 26.74. The sophomore’s 200 yard freestyle relay team swam for exhibition purposes only and had a total time of 1:49.86. Her split on the 3^rd leg was 26.85.

The final score had the Lady Pioneers going down 72 to 130.

JOSIAH MORALES HAS HAT TRICK OF WINS IN SEASON OPENER FOR WAYLAND BAPTIST

 

Josiah Morales Photo courtesy of wbuathletics.com

Trinidad and Tobago’s Josiah Morales went undefeated in the three events he contested in Wayland Baptist’s season opener against University of Texas Permian Basin on Friday September 30.

 

Morales, who is a senior, was a member of the Pioneers A team that won the 400 yard medley relay. The team  of Nico Ruiz-Rojas backstroke( 54.19) ,Dillon Frazier breaststroke (1:00.47), Morales butterfly (51.35) and Henri Günther freestyle (47.02) combined to post a total time of 3:33.03 . Their winning margin was more than 4 seconds. Josiah had the fastest butterfly split of all the teams.

His prowess in the butterfly would be seen in the individual 100 yard butterfly event. At the 50 yard mark Josiah had split 24.28 and was almost a second ahead of the field. When he touched the final wall his time was 52.00 and he was over 2 seconds faster than the second place finisher Mason Bryan who clocked 54.45.

In the final event the 200 yard freestyle relay his A team of Mihovil Backovic, Nico Ruiz-Rojas, Hugo Gallegos combined to win a close decision over Texas Permian Basin 1:28.17 to 1:28.53. His opening leg of 21.26 which was the fastest split of the relay was the difference for the win.  The Pioneers fell to University of Texas Permian Basin 97 to 108.

Wayland Baptist competes in the NAIA (The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics). Morales won the Silver medal at the 2016 Championships in the 50 yard freestyle in 20.73 which also stands as the school record. He is also the school standard bearer in the 200 yard butterfly at 1:54.41.