The quin­tet of Jadon Ramdeen, Anya Davis, Zion Ap­ple­white, his broth­er Jen­nai Ap­ple­white and Quil­lon Leera all won gold medals as T&T be­gan its bid for an eighth straight ti­tle when the 27th edi­tion of the Good­will Swim­ming Cham­pi­onships host­ed by the Aquat­ic Sports As­so­ci­a­tion of Ja­maica splashed off at the Na­tion­al Aquat­ic Cen­tre in Kingston, Ja­maica, on Fri­day.

Ramdeen swam to T&T’s first gold medal in the 11-12 Boys 50m breast­stroke in 36.46 sec­onds with Qadir Lewis com­plet­ing a 1-2 fin­ish for the reign­ing cham­pi­ons in 36.68 while Suri­name’s Tyrell Mokkum was third in 36.78.

Davis fol­lowed in the 13-14 Girls 50 breast­stroke in 38.46 sec­onds, which im­proved the old mark of 38.94 set by coun­try­woman Daniel­la Black­man in 2019 while Ba­hami­ans Sean­nae Norville-Smith (38.97), and Madi­son Gilbert (39.08) were sec­ond and third re­spec­tive­ly.

Ap­ple­white (Z) took gold in the 11-12 Boys 100m back­stroke in a new record time of one minute, 13.44 sec­onds to sur­pass the old time of 1:13.81 which was held by Guyana’s Vladimir Woodroffe since 2019 while Suri­name’s Sean-Ver­no (1:13.61), and T&T’s Shi­an Grif­fith (1:16.23) end­ed with sil­ver, and bronze re­spec­tive­ly.

The T&T 11-12 Boys quar­tet of Zion Ap­ple­white, Jadan Ramdeen, Shi­an Grif­fith and Qadir Lewis won the gold medal in the 400m med­ley re­lay event in a new meet record time of four min­utes, 56.55 sec­onds, eras­ing Guyana’s 2019 time of 4:58.62 with Suri­name sec­ond in 5:05.63, and Ba­hamas third in 5:21.32.

The old­er of the Ap­ple­white broth­ers, Jen­nai se­cured a gold medal for T&T on the open­ing day of fi­nals in the 13-14 Boys 100m back­stroke in a record mark of 1:07.10 as well, eras­ing the 2019 time of 1:08.50 sat by T&T’s Keishawn Daniel, with Ba­hami­ans Lenin Hamil­ton (1:08.18), and Maxwell Daniels (1:10.59) se­cur­ing the sil­ver and bronze medals re­spec­tive­ly.

Leera swam to the gold medal in the 15-17 Boys 100m back­stroke in a new meet record of 1:03.10 min­utes, which low­ered the old mark of 1:04.50 held by Ja­maican Hen­drik Pow­dar, while Ba­hami­an Zion Gib­son took sil­ver in 1:06.48, and Ja­maican, Dirk Har­ri­son, bronze in 1:08.79.

The 13-14 Boys quar­tet of Jan­nai Ap­ple­white, Aaron Colthrust, Bran­don Bal­four, and Do­minic Bowrin bagged gold in the 400m med­ley re­lay in a new meet record time of four min­utes, 29.03 sec­onds, eras­ing their own 2019 time of 4:29.82 with the Ba­hamas, sec­ond in 4:33.03, and Ja­maica, third in 4:39.05.

T&T’s Aaron Colthrust won sil­ver in the 13-14 Boys breast­stroke in 34.23 to trail Ja­maican Ju­lian Willough­by who won in 32.99 a new record to erase the old top time of T&T’s Akash Singh of 33.68 which was set in 2019 while Suri­name’s Joshua Bus­ropan was third in 34.35.

The Eight and Un­der Mixed 200m freestyle re­lay team of Ma­son Granger, Athalia Gid­dings, Ama­ra Bal­go­b­in, and Eli­jah Brown com­bined for sil­ver for T&T in 2:34.31 with Ba­hamas claim­ing gold in 2:23.76, and Bar­ba­dos, bronze in 2:35.48.

The oth­er sil­ver medal for T&T on the night came via the 15-17 Girls 400m med­ley re­lay quar­tet of Za­hara Alexan­der, Daniel­la Black­man, Toni Rae Yates, and Jale­na Coutain in 5:05.48, well be­hind Ba­hamas who won in a new record time of 5:01.18, faster than the T&T 2019 time of 5:02.12, while Bar­ba­dos was third in 5:42.25.

Gid­dings added bronze in the Eight and Un­der Girls 100m freestyle in one minute, 21.03 sec­onds while Zion Ap­ple­white was third in the 11-12 Boys 100m freestyle in one minute, 04.60 sec­onds.

Za­hara Alexan­der al­so won two bronze medals in the 15-17 Girls 100m freestyle in one minute, 03.96 sec­onds, and in the 100m back­stroke in 1:19.98, and Za­lay­har Lewis picked up bronze in the 9 -10 Girls 50m breast­stroke in 39.41 sec­onds.

T&T’s oth­er third-place fin­ish on the open­ing night came from the 15-17 Boys med­ley re­lay team of Leera, Ja­mal Nep­tune, Nathan Pas­call, and Tristin Roberts in 4:33.43 to fin­ish be­hind Ba­hamas who took gold in 4:13.40, a new meet record, bet­ter­ing T&T’s 2019 time of 4:18.29 with Ja­maica tak­ing home the sil­ver in 4:22.83.

The three-day com­pe­ti­tion con­tin­ued yes­ter­day (Sat­ur­day) and will con­clude to­day (Sun­day) at 10 am (TT time).

Last time on home soil, the T&T swim­mers cap­tured their sev­enth ti­tle on the trot led by the sex­tu­plet of Mic­ah Alexan­der, Tay­lor Marchan, Kyle Leera, Ne­ta­nia Ed­wards, Aaron Colthrust, and Keryn Burke who all won their age-group High Point ti­tle when host­ed by the Aquat­ic Sports As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (ASATT) at the Na­tion­al Aquat­ic Cen­tre in Bal­main, Cou­va.

Good­will Swim­ming points stand­ings af­ter Day One

1. Ba­hamas – 448

2. Ja­maica – 338

3. T&T – 296

4. Bar­ba­dos – 230

5. Suri­name - 144