Kristin Julien and David Mc Leod were again among the individual gold medal winners as T&T bagged five gold, four silver and three bronze on Wednesday's second night of finals at the 29th Carifta Swimming Championship at the Piscina Olimpico Roly Bislik, Savaneta, Aruba.
Julien was first in the 15-17 girls 100m backstroke in 1;06.39 seconds, ahead of Suriname's Brienne Renfurm (1:07.85) and Jamaica's Danielle Boothe (1:08.02).
Mc Leod led a T&T one-two finish in the 15-17 boys 100m backstroke in 58.72 followed by Jabari Baptiste (59.82) and Jamaican, Keanan Dols (1:01.16).
The 11-12 girls 400m medley relay team of Jahmia Harley, Vrisnelit Faure, Jada Chai and Deshor Edwards swam to gold in 4:56.00, well ahead of Curacao (5:01.08) and Guadeloupe (5:02.45).
Two events later, the 13-14 boys 400m medley relay quartet of Justin Samlalsingh, Dario Omiss, Kael Yorke and Osaze Riley combined for gold in 4:13.26 just beating Martinique (4:13.42), with Jamaica (4:18.00) getting bronze.
The T&T 15-17 boys quartet of Mc Leod, Jeron O'Brien , Joshua Ramkissoon and Baptiste won in 4:00.36 with Bahamas (4:01.91) and Jamaica (4:02.77) second and third respectively. In the 13-14 boys 50m butterfly T&T's Kael Yorke had to settle for silver in 26.48 after being pipped to the wall by Suriname's Irvin Hoost, who won in 26.46 with Bermudan Jesse Washington, third in 26.55.
Julien was second in the girls equivalent in 29.02, a YOGB standard qualifying mark to trail Martinique's Sandrine Fanchonna who touched the wall in 28.98 with Barbadian, Zabrina Holder taking bromze in 29.19.
Samlalsingh picked up silver in the 13-14 boys 100m backstroke in 1:02.53 behind Aruba Patrick Groters who won in 1:01.99 with Antiguan Noah Mascoll-Gomes, third in 1:03.89 and T&T's James Gillette, sixth in 1:06.51
Chai also chipped in with double individual bronze swims on the night while Amira Pilgrim was also a third place finisher.
First, Chai touched third in the 11-12 girls 200m freestyle in 2:18.78 with Harley fourth in 2:18.87, and both behind Bermuda's Ashley Irby (2:16.76) and Aruban, Elisabeth Timmer (2:18.54).
Chai then returned for third in the 50m butterfly in 30.29 with felow T&T entrant Deshor Edwards fifth in 31.14. Curacao's Chade Nersicio won the event in 29.37 to erase Jamaican Danielle Boothe's 2009 record of 29.97 with Bermuda's Emma Harvey taking silver in 29.55
Chai was also a sixth placed finisher in the 100m backstroke in 1:16.45 with Harley, eighth in 1:17.31.
And in the 13-14 girls 50m butterfly Elinah Phillip of British Virgin Islands won in 28.71 to beat the old record of 2012 by T&T's Tyla Martin (29.49) while also attaining a YOGB standard qualifying time.
The second and third placed duo of Aruba's Keeley Maduro (29.26) and T&T's Amira Pigrim (29.41) also dipped under Martin's old record.
The other T&T swimmer to compete in a final on Wednesday night, was Gabriel Bynoe, who ended seventh in the 11-12 boys 50m butterfly, in 31.13.
At the end of two days of finals, T&T still led the medal standings with 22 (11 gold, six silver, five bronze) followed by Bahamas with 25 (ten gold, 11 silver and four bronze), Aruba with 25 (seven gold, eight silver, ten bronze), Barbados with 15 (seven gold, four silver, four bronze), Suriname with 13 (seven gold, two silver, four bronze) and three-time defending champions, Guadeloupe with 17 (four gold, five silver, eight bronze)
But on the points table, Bahamas widened its lead from 24.5 points over T&T to 72 over new second placed team Aruba.
The Bahamians have 356 followed by Aruba (284), T&T (264.5), Guadeloupe (243), Martinique (236), Jamaica (185), Suriname (174.5) and Barbados. The Championship is serving as an official qualifying meet for the 16th FINA World Championships 2015 which will be held in Kazan, Russia. and has been approved as a qualifying meet for Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in Veracruz, Mexico and the Youth Olympic Games..
Yesterday, on the third morning of heats, T&T swimmers were scheduled to compete in the 200m IM, 50m breaststroke, 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle relay heats ahead of last night finals.
Today, the final day of pool action features 400m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 200m backstroke, and the 4 x 50m (200m freestyle) relay before tomorrow's (Saturday) Open water 5K swim events to end the championship.
Medal
Teams Gold Silver Bronze Total
T&T 11 6 5 22
Bahamas 10 11 4 25
Aruba 7 8 10 25
Barbados 7 4 4 15
Suriname 7 2 4 13
Guadeloupe 4 5 8 17
Jamaica 2 7 10 19
Martinique 2 5 5 12
Bermuda 2 2 2 6
Curacao 2 1 1 4
F Guyana 2 0 2 4
Bermuda 1 4 0 5
Cayman Is 1 1 1 3
BV Islands 1 0 1 2
Ant & Bar 0 1 1 2
Points table through Day Two
(54 events)
Bahamas � 356
Aruba � 284
T&T � 264.5
Guadeloupe � 243
Martinique � 236
Jamaica � 185
Suriname � 174.5
Barbados � 174
Curacao � 95
Cayman Islands � 92
Bermuda � 90
French Guyana � 52
?