The trio of Alexandria Donahue, Abraham Mc Leod and Jeron Thompson won gold for T&Ton Tuesday'sopening night of finals at the 2015 edition of the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships at the National Aquatic Centre, Wildey, Christ Church, Barbados.
Donahue, winner of two golds at the 2013 CCCAN in San Jose, Costa Rica, was the first to pick up precious metal for T&T.
In the thirteenth event of the afternoon, she outswam her rivals in the 18-and-over girls 100-metre breaststroke in one minute, 14.65 seconds, to beat Dominican Republic duo, Madison Pujadas (1:15.49) and Vanessa Rivas (1:15.60) into second and third respectively.
Suriname's Evita Leter, the only other competitor in the final, was fourth home in 1:16.14.
One of three Mc Leod brothers representing T&T at the five-day meet which concludes on Saturday, Abraham won the 18 & Over boys 100m breaststroke in one minute, 05.27 seconds well ahead of Puerto Rican Carlos Sierra (1:05.86) and Costa Rica's Arnaldo Herrera who took bronze in 1:06.33.
However, the best was yet to came as Thompson was then involved in perhaps the greatest swim in the history of the meet when he was involved in a three-way tie for the gold medal in the 13-14 boys 50m freestyle.
The trio of Thompson, Grenada's Delron Felix and Puerto Rican Andrew Acosta, all 14-year-olds, raced home in 25.01 seconds while T&T's other entrant in the final, Kael Yorke was seventh in 25.77.
USA-based youngster Gabriela Donahue earned T&T's first medal of the championship, silver, in the 11-12 girls 100m backstroke with a time of 1:08.07 minutes to trail Barbadian Danielle Titus who won in a record mark of 1:07.14. Honduran Carmen Velasquez was third in 1:10.39.
Graham Chatoor picked up a silver medal for T&T, in the 13-14 boys 1500m freestyle in 17.08.
Kael Yorke, was fourth in the 13-14 boys 100m backstroke in one minute, 04.33 seconds; Jeron Thompson was also one placed out of the medals in the 13-14 boys 200m individual medley in 2:17.40, while Vrisnelit Faure ended eighth in the 13-14 girls 200m individual medley in 2:40.36.
Florida-based Alexandria Donahue, winner of two gold medals at the last CCCAN outing in Costa Rica two years, was favoured to take gold in the 18 & Over girls 200m individual, but she was disqualified in the six-swimmer final.
Last night, T&T had a chance to add to its medal tally with a host of swimmers qualifying from their respective morning preliminary heats to finals.
In the 100m backstroke, Ariel Cape (15-17 girls) qualified for her final as only eight swimmers were listed to compete while Justin Samlalsingh was fourth (1:02.35) and Bradley Thomas, fifth (1:02.60) in the 15-17 boys heats, and in the 18 & Over boys, David Mc Leod (59.28) and Christian Awah (1:03.07) were the first and sixth fastest qualifiers.
Among the contingent to line up in the 100m butterfly medal events were Racine Ross (1:05.35) and Faure (1:08.24) who were first and sixth in the 13-14 girls heats; top qualifier Yorke (1:02.01) in the boys equivalent and in the 18 & Over boys, Joshua Mc Leod (58.27) in fourth while Awah (1:01.21) ended 14th.
Faure also booked a spot in the 200m breaststroke gold splash after she was seventh best in the heats in 2:57.45; Luke Gillette qualified automatically for the 13-14 boys splash, and likewise Donahue (A) in the four-women final.
The younger Donahue was also carded to line-up in the 100m breaststroke final as the top seed with a time of 1:18.39; Jada Chatoor, the 11-12 girls 400m freestyle as the seventh fastest in 4:54.34, and Aqeel Joseph, the 11-12 boys 200m butterfly four-man final.
The meet continues today with heats in the 200m freestyle relay, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m freestyle and 800m freestyle relay events ahead of the respective finals in this afternoon's second session of the day.