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Zaker Wilson, young swimmer from Tamarac

Zerek Wilson

By Agrippina Fadel

Tamarac resident Zarek Wilson is one of the fastest 16-year-old freestyle swimmers of the Americas.

Representing his home country of Trinidad and Tobago, he competed at the first Junior Pan American Games held from Nov. 25 – Dec. 5 in Cali, Colombia.

The Junior Pan American Games are an Olympic-style competition for athletes representing countries in the Americas and are held every four years — one year before the Olympics. The event included athletes aged 17-22 from 41 nations.

Wilson, who trains at TS Aquatics in Tamarac, was the youngest athlete in the top 16 of the men’s 100-meter freestyle swimming, placing second in the B final with a personal best time of 51.38 seconds and a FINA point score of 761.

On Nov. 12, Wilson swam for J.P. Taravella High School, earning a Bronze with 44.57 in the 100-yard freestyle at the Florida 4A State Championships in Stuart.

TS Aquatics Head Coach Andre Bailey was proud of Wilson. “Zarek was 10th overall in freestyle swimming and made three finals. He is one of the youngest athletes in the swimming divisions, and he did really well. It was also his personal best time. It qualifies him for US Open nationals and other competitions.”

Bailey added that it wasn’t easy to travel to another country and then perform and represent your country.

“It is one of the biggest steps for TS Aquatics on the international scene. We are hoping to bring more of that to the city of Tamarac.”

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Agrippina Fadel

Agrippina Fadel grew up in Siberia and received her master's in journalism from Tyumen State University. Agrippina is also a writer and editor at Draftsy.net. She has been a US resident for over ten years and speaks English and Russian.