Here's some positive from the youths of the nation....Dylan Carter had another record gold swim while national teammates, Joshua Romany and Cadell Lyons also won gold medals for T&T. T&T swimmers bagged 12 medals on the fourth night of the 26th Central American and Caribbean Confederation Aquatics (CCCAN) Championship, swimming competition at Bolivarianas Pool, Barquisimeto, Venezuela on Friday night.
It was another good night for the record-breaking swimmers as they also won six silver, four of which came in the relays and three bronze medals to push their record medal haul to 38 (ten gold, 16 silver, 12 bronze), ten more than last year’s previous record tally of 27 medals (17 gold, eight silver, three bronze).
Carter, 12, winner of the 11-12 Boys 100 metres freestyle on Thursday doubled his gold medal tally at the six-day Championship when he won the 200 metres freestyle in two minutes, 01.46 seconds to better the eight-year-old record of two minutes, 04.39 seconds by Venezuelan Kenny Velasquez and also lower his own previous national record of two minutes, 04.11 seconds.
Second was Carter’s fierce rival, Venezuelan Andres Doria (2:04.41 mins), while Juan Vaca, another Venezuelan took bronze in 2:07.69 mins. Two events later on the night, Romany gave the travelling T&T supporters another golden swim when he won the 13-14 Boys 200 metres freestyle in one minute, 59.38 seconds. Mexico’s Fernando Santos earned the silver medal (2:00.53 mins) and Aruba’s Jemal Le Grand, bronze (2:00.85 mins). Lyons, winner of the 15-17 Boys 50 metres butterfly final on Wednesday, got his second gold medal in three days when he outswam his rivals in the 100 metres butterfly to finish in a time of 55.48 seconds.
This eclipsed his previous national record of 56.85 set last year. Second was his close friend and teammate, England-based Christian Homer (56.76 secs), while Venezuela’s Eddy Marin took bronze in 57.06. Samantha Rahael and the 13-14 Boys, 15-17 Girls, 15-17 Boys and 18 & Over Boys 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay quartets all picked up silver medals behind a dominant Venezuela contingent. Rahael, was second in the 15-17 Girls 200 metres freestyle in two minutes, 09.24 seconds well adrift of winner, El Salvador’s Pamela Benitez (2:02.28 mins) while Mirielvy Aumaitre of Venezuela got bronze in 2:10.62 mins.
In the 13-14 Boys 4 x 100 metres freestyle final, the T&T team of Keegan Boisson-Yates, Sean Roget, Kareem Baptiste and Romany combined for a time of three minutes, 46.84 seconds for the silver medal. However, the local squad suffered a minor scare after the race when Roget, who had been ill since arriving in Venezuela on Sunday, before taking his place in Friday’s team suffered a relapse and needed some medical attention before being allowed to rejoin the local contingent. Venezuela won the gold medal in three minutes, 41.42 seconds and Mexico took bronze in three minutes, 48.33 seconds.
Host Venezuela was also first home in the 15-17 Girls 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay final in four minutes, 02.21 seconds while the T&T quartet of Rahael, Kadeja Phillip, Laverne Maxwell and Cherelle Thompson got silver in four minutes, 08.98 seconds and Guatemala, bronze in four minutes, 10.28 seconds. Homer and Lyons added to their medal haul when they joined Jonathan Cabral and Ryan Rigues to post a time of three minutes, 41.92 seconds which was good enough for silver in the 15-17 Boys 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay final. Venezuela was again topped the field in three minutes, 30.98 seconds while Guatemala copped bronze in three minutes, 41.92 seconds.
And in the final event of the night, the 18 & Over Boys 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay team of Joshua Mc Leod, Strasser Sanker, Stefan Mader and Jarryd Gregoire joined the list of relay silver winners for T&T with a time of three minutes, 34.27 seconds. First home was Venezuela (3:29.49 mins) and third, Costa Rica (3:42.30 mins). Not to be left out, Kimberlee John-Williams added two bronze medals to her personal tall. The 14-year-old John-Williams first bronze on the night came in the 13-14 Girls 200 metres freestyle in two minutes, 10.99 to trail Cuban Jennifer Almageur (2:08.94 mins) and Venezuelan, Andrea Garrido (2:10.26 mins) to the wall.
The towering figure of John-Williams, returned to the pool 30 minutes later and swam to another bronze, this time in the 100 metres butterfly in one minute, 06.72 seconds. Melissa Mexia (1:03.54 mins) and Natalia Vasquez (1:06.62 mins) led a one-two finish for Mexico. The 11-12 Boys 4 x 100 metres freestyle team of Carter, Jonathan Gonzales, Jeron O’Brien and Christopher Greene also got bronze, in four minutes, 09.62 seconds. Venezuela won gold in three minutes, 50.92 minutes and Guatemala got bronze in four seconds, 03,49 seconds.
At the top of the medal table is host Venezuela, the defending champions, with an astonishing bulging bag of 103 medals (50 gold, 30 silver, 23 bronze) while Mexico is third with 29 medals (six gold, nine silver, 14 bronze) followed by Guatemala (six gold, six silver, ten bronze) and El Salvador, fifth with (five gold, three silver, three) while Barbados is sixth (four gold, eight silver and four bronze). The Venezuelans also lead the points table with 1,175 points well ahead of second placed T&T (456) while Mexico is third with 360, Guatemala, fourth with 318 and Honduras, fifth with 192 points. Swimming was expected to continue last night, while today is the last day of competition.
Source:
http://guardian.co.tt/sports/other-sports/2009/07/05/carter-shatters-8-year-cccan-swim-mark