Over the summer, sophomore Troy Pina was selected to the Cabo (Cape) Verde National Swim Team, and has spent his summer training for international competition. His success has earned him recognition as the Saint Peter’s Male Student-Athlete of the Month (August).
Pina was selected to the national team through online performance tracking via Facebook. His posted times were the only competitive male times in African swimming, which led to the Federation reaching out to him since there are no pools in Cape Verde, only open water. In all, most of the athletes that compete for the country in any sport are from the USA.
Pina has been training all summer since he returned home from Saint Peter's. He has been competing in meets with his club team, the Seacoast Swimming Association-Seekonk (Seekonk, Mass.), where he trains with his sisters, who are also Cape Verdean swimmers. The trio trains at a long course pool at Brown University and at Pina's former high school, Seekonk High School. These teams will continue to train Pina for international competition while he is not competing collegiately and up until the Olympics, since there are no pools in the country of Cabo Verde.
Pina will be the first male ever to compete on the international swimming stage for the country of Cabo Verde. He will be competing for the first time from September 10-17 at CANA African Championships (the first time Cabo Verde will send a swim team to a national meet). This will make Pina eligible for the World Championships in the summer of 2019 and then for the Olympics in 2020. Pina will also be competing in open water in Sal 2019 at the African Beach Games where Cabo Verde will compete on the Island Sal for the first time.
Cabo Verde, or Cape Verde as it is pronounced in English, is made up of 10 islands off of the west coast of Africa. The country has a population of just 500,000 citizens and there are more Cape Verdeans living in the United States of America than Cape Verde the country. The roster size of the national team is just four, with Pina being the only male athlete on the lineup; two of the three females are Pina's sisters.
On top of swimming for Saint Peter’s, Pina also competes as a member of the men's indoor and outdoor track and field teams.
