The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

TEAM Bahamas produced a total of 20 medals and an eighth place finish at the 28th CCCAN Swimming Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The 21-member team collected six gold, seven silver, seven bronze and finished with a total of 202 points over the five-day meet.

Venezuela was the overall winner with 1,067 points, Costa Rica was second with 711, Guatemala was third with 497, Honduras fourth with 473 and Aruba fifth with 450.

Trinidad and Tobago topped the teams in the English- speaking Caribbean with 443 points, followed by Barbados in seventh with 362.

Venezuela was also the top medal winners with 94 – 42 gold, 27 silver and 25 bronze.

Trinidad and Tobago was second with 16 gold, seven silver and 11 bronze for a total of 34.

Joanna Evans was one of the stars for Team Bahamas as she totalled four medals in the Girls 15-17 division.

On day four she captured her second gold of the meet after winning the 400m free in 4:25.60 seconds and closed out the final day of competition with a bronze in the 400m IM in 5:14.10.

On day one, Evans won the first medal for the Bahamas with gold in the 800m free in 9:06.43. She also added silver in the 200m free in 2:07.64.

Laura Morley also highlighted the Girls 15-17 division with three medals. She added to her medal count with a silver in the 50m breast on day four, in a time of 35.64.

Morley opened day two with gold for the Bahamas in the 200m breast in 2:46.41 and won silver in the 100m breast in 1:17.22.

In the Girls 13-14, Albury Higgs also totalled three medals. Her gold in the 50m breast (36.01) was one of the Bahamas’ five medals in the event. She also took gold in the 100m breast in 1:16.90 and silver in the 200m breast in 2:47.48.

A pair of first-timers at the CCCAN Championships were also able to win multiple medals in their meet debut.

In the Girls’ 11-12 division, Victoria Russell set a new national record in the 100m breast with a time of 1:18:79.

The previous mark stood for 13 years. She also added a bronze in the 50m breast (37.23) on the final day of competition.

In the Boys’ 13-14, Alex Encinar captured bronze in the 100m breast in a time of 1:09.29 and another bronze in the 50m breast in 31.64.

T’Auren Moss highlighted the final day of competition for the Bahamas with a gold in the 50M fly in a time of 25.81.

Taryn Smith also medalled in the event in the Girls’ 15-17 with a silver medal in 29.96.

Gershwin Greene was the first medal winner for Team Bahamas on the male side with a silver medal in the 13-14 50m free in 25.27.

Dustin Tynes won bronze in the 50m breast in the Boys 15-17 in 30.71, while in the Girls 11-12, Celia Campbell won bronze in the 50m back in 34.55.

The Bahamas’ lone relay medal came from the Boys’ 13-14 400mIM team of Greene, Encinar, N’Nhyn

Fernander and Jared Fitzgerald, who took bronze in 4:20.18.