B’dos continues to do well at CARIFTA Swim championships

Action continued on Day 2 of the Games and team Barbados added another 12 medals to their haul from the opening night bringing the total to 20 at the end of the second day of competition.

Following on from Day 1, Hannah Gill would once again secure the first medal of the night for the team in another freestyle event, this time over the much shorter distance of 200m. Lauren Hew of Cayman Islands was on her own to take the gold in a time of 2:05:98, while Lily Higgs would out-touch Gill for silver (2:08:12). Gill’s time of 2:08:71 was good enough for bronze and just shy of her own 15-17 record of 2:08:55.

The next event was the 50m butterfly, but Barbados was unable to grab any medals in this sprint event. Redemption came with the 100m backstroke however, starting with the boys 11-12 and Zachary Taylor stealing silver in a time of 1:08:96. Gold went to Max Wilson of the Virgin Islands (1:08:63) and bronze to Florian Lomon of Guadeloupe (1:10:64). A sensational performance from Danielle Titus was next in the girls 13-14 age group. Not only did she secure gold seemingly effortlessly, but her time of 1:05:61 is a new CARIFTA record, a new Barbados age group record and a new national open Barbados record. Also worthy of note is that her time of 1:05:61 was quicker than that posted in the 15-17 age group for gold (1:05:98). In the following event, Tristan Pragnell would touch the wall at 1:04:03 to secure the bronze medal behind Kevon Lockhart of Bahamas (1:03:71) and Davante Carey also of Bahamas taking gold (1:01:76). In the final event of the 100m backstroke, the medal positions would remain as they were in the 50m event the previous night with Jack Kirby repeating his silver medal performance from Day 1 (58:20) behind Patrick Groters of Aruba (57:17) and Steven Aimable of French Guiana taking bronze (1:00:18).

In the gruelling 400m Individual Medley, which would immediately follow the backstroke, Danielle Titus would repeat her gold medal performance from the backstroke earlier posting a time of 5:17:92. Silver went to Sabine Ellison of the Cayman Islands (5:20:51) and bronze to Anouk Kamoise of Guadeloupe (5:28:24).

In what was to be a spectacular viewing event for the spectators, local boys Nkosi Dunwoody and Roan Baker were outstanding to watch. Nkosi led the race from the start, but Baker put up a great breaststroke leg to close the gap and secure his silver medal spot. Dunwoody posted 4:54:47 to grab his second gold of the meet with Baker finishing at 4:58:03 for silver and Tristan Russell of Bahamas finishing at 4:59:68 for bronze. The boys 15-17 400IM was perhaps the most impressive race of the evening as Aruban Patrick Groters went after the 13-year-old record of our own Bradley Ally. Almost a full 50m ahead of the rest of the field, Groters would post a time of 4:27:69 to smash the Ally record of 4:31:95. Luis Sebastian Weekes would post a personal best time of 4:45:41 to comfortably take the silver medal, while bronze was a tie between Nicolas Beauzor of Guadeloupe and Eddie Weber of Cayman Islands.

The 400m Medley relays were the final events of the evening and the 11-12 girls got Team Barbados off to a great start. Led by Aza Dunwoody in the back with Ti-Juana Welch swimming breast, Keilani Talma in fly and Adia Deane swimming the free leg, the girls held on for silver position in a time of 4:58:57 behind Cayman Islands (4:55:03) and ahead of Bermuda 4:59:49. The 11-12 boys would also secure silver with the quartet of Chris Pollard, Zachary Taylor, Omari Sealy and Kai Trotman doing the honours for Barbados (4:43:73). The final medal would come from the 15-17 boys relay team of Jack Kirby, Luis Sebastian Weekes, Kobi Talma and Damon St. Prix and once more it would be silver, but this time a new age group record would accompany the medal. The time of 4:02:39 would erase the year-old record of 4:03:80 set in Martinique last year.