Florida-based Tyla Martin swam to three gold medals to improve her two-day haul to four as T&T swimmers garnered 15 medals (nine gold, four silver, two bronze) on the second night of finals at the 27th Carifta Swimming Championship at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Aquatic Centre, Nassau, Bahamas on Friday night. Overall, after two days of finals, T&T slipped to third from second on the points table with 348 just behind host Bahamas while Guadeloupe lead with 433 points. T&T now has won 30 medals (15 gold, ten silver, five bronze), three less than Guadeloupe (12 gold, 10 silver, 11 bronze). The winner of the 13-14 girls' 100m butterfly in a record time of one minute, 03.81 seconds on Thursday, Martin added gold medals in the 200m freestyle, 400m individual medley and 50m butterfly events. In the 200m freestyle splash, Martin just missed erasing fellow T&T swimmer Kimberlee John-Williams' 2009 record (2:09.51) when she won in 2:09.73. Second was Bahamian Joanna Evans 2:11.33 and third, Barbadian Sariyah Sherry in 2:11.64. However, the 400 IM record did not elude Martin as she stopped the clock at 5:11.99 to better her own national record of 5:13.69, swam last year at the Amateur Swimming Association of T&T (ASATT) Invitational.
Martin's other gold medal on the night came in the 50m butterfly in 29.49 which bettered the old Carifta top mark of 29.64 set last year by Barbadian Zabrina Holder. Simone Sturrup (29.76) of Bahamas and Emily Negril of Martinique (31.21) were second and third respectively. Other gold medal winners on Friday for T&T were Joshua Romany, Dylan Carter, Jabari Baptiste (two) and Amira Pilgrim and the 15-17 boys' medley relay quartet. Romany (1:52.46 minutes) and Carter (1:53.23 mins) both broke the Carifta record of 1:53.35 set last year by Romany in the 15-17 boys' 200 freestyle. Joris Bouchat of Guadeloupe got bronze in 1:54.04. Carter (25.34 seconds), winner of three gold medals on Thursday reversed the tables on Romany (25.40 secs) as he led another T&T one-two finish, this time in the 50m butterfly while T'Auren Moss (25.63) of Bahamas was third. Romany and Carter also combined with Ross Phillips and Emiro Goossen for gold in the 15-17 boys' medley relay quartet in a record time of 3:57.83 minutes, beating Guadeloupe (4:03.91 mins) and Bahamas (4.04.22 mins) to the wall. The old record 3:59.33 was set two years ago by compatriots Christian Homer, Ronald Rigues, Cadell Lyons and Jonathan Cabral.
There was also a silver medal for Carter (57.70 secs) in the 100m backstroke as he trailed Jamaican Timothy Wynter (57.32) home in a record breaking swim from the duo who both went under the 2010 record set by T&T's Christian Homer (58.64). Bronze went to Guadeloupe's Joris Bouchat who clocked 1:00.53. Baptiste showed his class in the 13-14 boys' 200m freestyle as he won gold in 1:59.15, beating Barbadian Selby Christian (1:59.68) and Guadeloupe's Matthias Marsau (2:00.88) into silver and bronze positions. In the 100m backstroke, Baptiste was equally as impressive as he sped home in 1:02.92 ahead of Bahamian Dionisio Carey (1:03.86) and Suriname's Daniel Kolf, 1:04.59. Pilgrim got her first individual gold medal when she outswam her rivals in the 11-12 girls' 50m butterfly in 30.90 seconds well ahead of Bahamian Megan Reid (31.96) and Jamaican Tiara Myrie (32.22). The local 11-12 boys' 400m medley relay team of Christian Marsden, Dario Omiss, Osaze Riley and James Gillette copped silver in 4:52.81 behind Guadeloupe (4:46.23) while Virgin Islands was third 4:56.82. US-based John-Williams collected two bronze medals on the night, to add to her gold medal won on Thursday. First John-Williams finished third in the 15-17 girls' 50m butterfly in 29.52 behind Bajan winner, Zabrina Holder (29.04) and Jamaica's Kendese Nangle (29.48). And in the 100m backstroke Nangle (1:06.47) and Bria Deveaux (1:06.89) of Bahamas finished ahead of John-Williams (1:06.96).
MEDAL STANDINGS
Teams Gold Silver Bronze Total
T&T 15 10 5 30
Guadeloupe 12 10 11 33
Bahamas 7 11 11 29
Aruba 6 7 3 16
Jamaica 5 8 3 16
Barbados 3 3 5 11
Suriname 3 2 4 9
Martinique 2 2 4 8
Bermuda 2 2 1 5
Cayman Islands 1 0 4 5
Guyana 1 0 0 1
Virgin Islands 0 1 4 5
Netherland Antilles 0 1 2 3
