The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas sits in third place in the point standings after the first day of competition in the BTC Carifta Swimming Championships at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex, with a total of 13 medals.

Following the official opening ceremonies, in which Minister of Tourism and Aviation Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace and Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Charles Maynard spoke and Governor General Orville Turnquest declared the championships open, the competition kicked off yesterday with Joanne Evans winning the first medal for the Bahamas.

When the night was done, the boys 15-17 team of Dustin Tynes, Matthew Lowe, Evante Gibson and T'Auren Moss wrapped up a pretty good showing for the Bahamas with the silver medal.

Throughout the night, the Bahamas amassed three gold, three silver and seven bronze for their total of 13. Trinidad & Tobago heads the medal chart with six gold, six silver and three bronze for 15. Guadeloupe and Aruba both got 10 medals, including five gold, to sit in second and third respectively.

However, in the point standings, the Bahamas is in third with 160 points. Guadeloupe has taken the early lead with 182, followed by Trinidad & Tobago with 174.

A total of nine records were broken during the night, including one from Evans as she began the Bahamas' medal rush with her gold in the girls 13-14 800 metres freestyle. Her time of nine minutes and 11.82 seconds erased the previous mark of 9:18.65 that was set by Bahamian McKayla Lightbourn in 2007.

"It was very good. I'm pleased with the time. It's a personal best for me," Evans said. "I worked hard and I just tried to do me best."

Evans' race was combined with the 15-17 division and she placed third overall. Winning the race was Julie Anne Malidor from Martinique in 9:08.22.

"It was hard," said Malidor of her performance. "I wasn't pleased with the time. I was a little cold."

Right after Evans' feat, Matthew Lowe picked up the first silver in the boys 15-17 1,500 free in 16:21.88. He trailed Guadeloupe's Joris Bouchaut, who won the gold in a time of 15:45.04 to beat the previous championship record of 16:10.71 that was held by Shaune D. Fraser in 2004.

"It was exhausting, but I felt really good. It was nice to place in my year here," said the seven-year veteran of the championships. "It means a lot to do it at home."

Lowe, however, said Bouchaut shocked the field as he pulled away and won by more than a 50-metre length of the pool.

"He was gone," Lowe noted.

For Bouchaut, who spoke through a team interpreter, he said his performance was not anything spectacular. He said it was normal for him, but he's not impressed with the time because he really wanted to swim much faster. He noted that he's just enjoying himself here because "it's a nice country, the people are nice and it's a pleasure for me to be here".

Right after Lowe, Albury Higgs pulled off the first victory in a race when she took the girls 11-12 200 breaststroke in 2:57.61, well ahead of silver medalist Junice Martin of Aruba, who clocked 2:59.01.

"I just tried to do my best. I started out pacing and I was able to pull it off," said Higgs, who came from behind after the first 100 to secure the win. "The crowd really helped me to pull it off."

A pair of bronze medals came from Drew Bastian in the boys 13-14 200 breast in 2:27.69 and Dustin Tynes in the boys 15-17 200 breast in 2:26.06. Tynes, along with gold medalist Jordy Groters of Aruba (2:22.68) and silver medalist Ross Phillips from Trinidad & Tobago (2:25.49) all went under the Carifta record of 2:26.68 that was set by Bahamian Jeremy Knowles in 1998.

"I'm pretty satisfied with it even thought I didn't win," Tynes said.

"Despite all of the injuries and the sicknesses that I've been having, I think I did pretty good since I was only cleared to compete the day before I came home from school. But I expected the competition is going to be stiff this year because this is an Olympic year."

In his first individual event at the championships, Dionisio Carey came through with a gold medal in the boys 13-14 backstroke in 28.06.

However, he was disappointed that he didn't surpass the championship record of 27.76 that was set by Dylan Carter last year.

"It was a really good race. I felt good from the start," Carey said. "I just did my best and got the gold for my country. I missed the record, but that's okay. The gold is more important right now."

The Bahamas missed getting a medal in both the 11-12 girls and boys 400 free relays. But the girls 13-14 relay team of Doran Reed, Simone Sturrup, Leslie Campbell and Joanne Evans got a silver, while the 13-14 boys team of Carey, Zach Moses, Gershawn Greene and Farion Cooper had to settle for the bronze.

And after the girls 15-17 team also missed out of getting on the podium, the boys 15-17 team of Dustin Tynes, Matthew Lowe, Evante Gibson and T'Auren Moss closed out the first day of competition with a silver in 3:40.10 behind Trinidad & Tobago's gold medal performance in 3:35.40.

Day two of the championships will get underway at 9am with the preliminaries. The finals in those events will start at 6pm.

Note: While she still recovers in hospital in the United States, rivals of Lauren Morley showed their respect by honoring her during the awards presentation of the girls 15-17 200 breastroke. If she was not injured, Morley would have been right in the pack competing in the event.

And after helping the Bahamas track and field team pick up a second place finish with 40 medals at the Carifta Games in Hamilton, Bermuda over the Easter holiday weekend, medalists Shaunae Miller and twin brothers Latario and Lathone Collie-Minns were among the spectators in the stands cheering on Team Bahamas.