Simmons stars again as Barbados does well on Day 3

JAYA Simmons may need to change her name to Midas as everything she touches turns to Gold for her in the 2022 CARIFTA Swimming Championships. The young athlete’s run of form in the competition has been flawless and she began her evening on Day 3 with 2:36.56 minutes in the 11-12 200 Metre Individual Medley (IM). She led home Alexandria Cogle of Jamaica (2:41.44) and St. Lucia’s Fayth Jeffrey, who finished only a hair behind for the Bronze with 2:41.72.
In the 100 Metre Freestyle, she had some company on the podium as Heidi Stoute stayed close as the pair swam 1:01.13 and 1:01.76 for Gold and Silver. Alexandria Cogle of Jamaica was third with 1:03.99 minutes.
Getting on the podium a few times before, Tariq Greenidge finally stood at the top after a keenly-contested final in the Boys 11-12 200 Metre IM. It was so close in fact, that the Gold medal was also presented to St. Martin’s Joey Schvartz after both clocked 2:28.45 minutes. Third place went to David Singh of the Bahamas with 2:36.30. He would get a second swing at his own
championship in the 50 Metre Breaststroke which he took ahead of Jamaica’s Kai Radcliffe (35.11) and Alejandro Agard of Trinidad and Tobago (35.90) with 35.08 seconds.
Adara Stoddard, who has also been having a sound outing during the championship, copped a Bronze medal in the Girls 15-17 200 Metre IM with 2:30.22 behind Keiannna Moss (2:28.66) and Zaylie-Eli Thomas (2:28.78). Jake Chee-A-Tow was also good for a third- place finish in the Boys 15-17 200 Metre Butterfly. His time of 2:10.95 minutes secured him a Bronze behind Nigel Forbes of the Bahamas (2:07.03) and Nikoli Blackman of Trinidad and Tobago (2:10.40).
After missing out on his first Gold medal of the competition earlier in the 11-12 200 Metre Butterfly through a disqualification for not touching the wall with both hands, Brennan Watson was able to reap just a bit of redemption as part of the Barbadian team for the 11-12 Mixed 4X100 Metre Relay. Along with Simmons, Greenidge and Stoute, the quartet clocked 4:13.55 minutes to finish well ahead of Jamaica (4:22.56) and the Bahamas (4:22.96)
Of the records that fell on the day, Lola Haworth of the Cayman Islands was the first to replace an old mark when she swam 19:37.7 minutes in the 13-14 1500 Metre Freestyle. Britta Schwengle from Aruba also put her name down in the history books with a time of 17:58.67 in the 15-17 category over the same distance. Martinique’s Cristophe Maleu joined the company of record holders with 8:48.85 minutes in the Boys 13-14 800 Metre Freestyle, while his countryman Kimani Bellanger came in just over a second quicker in the 15-17 800 Metre with a time of 8:47.31 minutes to set a new standard.