Madelyn Moore and Jesse Washington will lead Bermuda’s medal quest at the Carifta Swimming Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, in April.

A team of 15 has been selected by the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association for the championships from April 15 to 19 at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Swim Complex.

Two notable absentees are Shannon Hassell and Emma Harvey. Hassell is in the International Baccalaureate programme and will miss the trip along with Harvey who won four gold last year as the Bermuda brought back 22 medals from Martinique. She is studying at Millfield School in Somerset, and will be competing in a meet in England in April. It will be Washington’s seventh and final championships.

Ben Smith, the Bermuda head coach, is excited about the prospects of one of the team’s youngest swimmers, Elan Daley, who will be competing in her first competition. She has been setting records in Canada where she lives.

“With the amount of records she has been breaking recently, she’ll be one to watch, as well as Sam Williamson who has also been breaking records,” Smith said.

Smith is delighted to have two of the three Daley siblings available for selection, with older brother Ethan competing in the 15-17 boys. He was selected last year but was unable to make the trip. Youngest sibling Elijah is still not old enough to compete at Carifta.

Bermuda brought back 24 medals from Barbados in 2015 and 22 from Aruba in 2014. Smith is hoping for a similar number of medals.

“Trying to match last year is the initial goal and if we can exceed that it would be awesome,” Smith said.

“We will have six swimmers in the 11-12 age group so there are quite a few youngsters and having somebody like Jesse there will be important for the team.”

The local swimmers will have two Best of Best series meets as warm-up events before Carifta. Race two will take place on February 25 with the third race scheduled for March 18.

TEAM

11-12 girls: Elan Daley, Jessica Bruton, Payton Zelkin, Taylor White

11-12 boys: Sam Williamson, Finn Moseley

13-14 girls: Skyler Powell, Logan Watson-Brown, Gabriela Pittman

13-14 boys: Keagan Woolley, Brian Desmond

15-17 girls: Madelyn Moore

15-17 boys: Jesse Washington, Ethan Daley, Evan Farrow