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| The Bahamas stuns Trinidad for second! |
Kelsie Johnson
Guardian Sports Reporter kelsie@nasguard.com
Published: Apr 16, 2012
It was a swim to the finish for Team Bahamas – a push that would determine the overall placing for the country at the 27th Annual CARIFTA Swim Championships. The Bahamas was sitting in third just before the final six events, the 200m freestyle relays. Out front was Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago was in second. The four medals picked up in the various divisions by The Bahamas was the edge needed to knock Trinidad and Tobago out of second and into third. Only nine points separated the second and third place countries. Guadeloupe went on to win the championships with a combined score of 821.50. The Bahamas finished second with 657 points and Trinidad and Tobago rounded out the top three with 648 points. The overall medal count for The Bahamas was 49 – 13 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze. Trinidad and Tobago had secured 54 medals and Jamaica 63. However the 26 gold medals captured by Trinidad and Tobago gave them the top spot. Jamaica had 25 gold medals over the four-day period. The remaining medals won by Trinidad and Tobago were 17 silver and 11 bronze. The stellar performances turned in by the golden girl for The Bahamas, Margaret Albury Higgs, gave her the high point awards for the girls’ 11-12 division. Higgs scored 65 points, 29 points ahead of Angara Sinclair of Jamaica who had a four-day total of 36. Amira Pilgrim had a total of 31 points. Higgs was the only Bahamian to be ranked in the individual scores. Trinidad and Tobago won three divisions, while Bermuda and Guadeloupe spilt the remaining two. The Bahamas was awarded one of the best swim awards in the 13-14 division, thanks to Joanna Evans who picked up the gold in the 800m freestyle. That golden time was 9:11.82. Sinclair was the winner in the 11-12 and Joris Bouchaut the 15-17 winner. The gold medals continued to pour in for The Bahamas and it was Higgs who started off the medal rush, in the 100m breaststroke, for the team on the final night. Higgs had secured a silver medal earlier in the session and returned to touch the wall in 1:22.17, leaving Annastazia Chin and Suelenn Graanoogst to settle for second and third respectively. Chin turned in a time of 1:25.22 and Graanoogst finished in 1:25.72. The Bahamas’ team of Doran Reed, Joanna Evans, Leslie Campbell and Simone Sturrup clocked 1:54.30 for the gold in the 200m freestyle relay. Higgs won a silver in the 11-12 girls’ 400m freestyle. She finished behind Hannah Gil of Barbados in 4:49.62. Gil won in 4:45.35 and Ingrid Champrobert came in third in 4:59.03. The Bahamas got another silver, from Evans, in the 13-14 girls’ 400m freestyle. The gold went to Trinidad and Tobago's Tyla Martin and Sariyah Sherry of Barbados took the bronze. Simone Sturrup is the silver medalist in the 50m freestyle for 13-14 girls. Her time was 28.32 seconds. The winning post was 28.03 seconds by Charlotte Backovic of Guadeloupe. Doran Reed placed sixth in the race. The time of 1:11.21 was turned in by Drew Bastian. That was good enough for a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke. Zach Moses was fourth in the event. Bria Deveaux secured a silver medal in the 50m free. She spilt Ally Ponson and Kendese Nangle of Aruba and Jamaica respectively. A handful of bronze medals were collected by Bahamian swimmers. Matthew Lowe won bronze in the 400m freestyle in the boys’ 15-17 division, Deveaux in the 50m free and T'Auren Moses, also in the 50m freestyle. The 11-12 boys’ 200m freestyle relay squad was third overall. Just short of the medal podium were Moses in the 400m free for boys 13-14, Dustin Tynes in the 100m breaststroke in 1:06.97 and Celia Campbell. She touched the wall in 2:45.91 in the 200m backstroke. Also in the event was Keitra Lloyd of The Bahamas. Lloyd would stop the clock in 2:47.85. Gershwin Green was fifth in the boys’ 13-14 division for the 50m freestyle. The gold is on its way back to Trinidad and Tobago, thanks to Jabari Baptiste who swam 24.56 seconds. Tremaine Allen was sixth in the 100m breaststroke 13-14 division. The CARIFTA Swimming Championships will be held in Jamaica next year. |
