Saint Lucia Olympian Mikaili Charlemagne captures NEWMAC 50-yard free title in PB of 23.18

Saint Lucian Olympian Mikaili Charlemagne captures NEWMAC 50-yard free title in PB of 23.18 and joined fellow Olympian Bermudan Roy Allan Burch as a Springfield College Conference Sprint Champion. 

Saint Lucia Olympian Mikaili Charlemagne captures NEWMAC 50-yard free title in PB of 23.18
Saint Lucia Olympian Mikaili Charlemagne captures NEWMAC 50-yard free title in PB of 23.18

Castries, Saint Lucia: Saint Lucian Olympian Mikaili Charlemagne captures NEWMAC 50-yard free title in PB of 23.18 and joined fellow Olympian Bermudan Roy Allan Burch as a Springfield College Conference Sprint Champion. 

The 2023 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Swimming and Diving Championship got underway last Thursday, February 16 at the WPI Sport and Recreation Center. On Friday, it was Saint Lucian Olympian Mikaili Charlemagne grabbing the headlines for Springfield College in Saint Lucia. 

The senior, who was recently recognized by her national as the Junior Sportswoman of the Year, had a personal best in the 50-yard freestyle of 23.76 heading to the meet. She put that on notice when she had a heats time of 23.80. In the final, she crushed that time to win with a big PB of 23.18. 

That swim places her as the seventh fastest in the NCAA Division III. The Eastern Caribbean’s fastest woman in the 50-metre pool at 26.75 is also in touching distance of the 2012 school record of 23.00 by Kellie Pennington. The Health Sciences major has worked steadily to get to the top. In 2020 she was 9th in 24.36. Last year she was 6th in a then PB of 23.99. 

She is in illustrious company as fellow CARIFTA Olympian and 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Bermudan Roy Allan Burch won the 2008 conference 50 yard title in 20.71,a then championship record.

She had joined Burch as being a school record holder in the 200 yard freestyle relay. The Pride placed second with a time of 1:34.87. Mikaili had the fastest opening leg of 23.56,a short lived PB. The old school record was 1:35.01 set in 2011. Burch’s 2008 team won Gold in a then NEWMAC Champs and Open record of 1:22.63. The Bermudan Bullet had the fastest split on the second leg of 19.94.

Charlemagne was recently honored by her federation at the 2022 Annual Awards Ceremony at the Vladmir Lucian Theater, Human Resource Center in Gros Islet, Sunday, February 5 2023, with a number of awards. 

She won the Female Swimmer of the Year, the Best national female performance at the Commonwealth Games, the Best Overall performance Fina Worlds as well as stroke awards for the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle.