The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Olympic swimmer Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace put her own stamp of approval on her performance at the XXII Commonwealth Games in Veracruz, Mexico when she picked up her fourth gold medal in another record-breaking feat.

In the 50 metres freestyle, the 24-year-old capped off Team Bahamas’ medal haul in the Leyes de Reforma Aquatic Center by touching the wall in 25.24 seconds to dethrone Vanessa Garcia of Puerto Rico. Garcia, who set the meet record at 25.18 at the last CAC games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico in 2010, got the silver in 25.63, while the bronze went to Lillian Ibanez of Mexico in 26.04.

As she continued to bolster her résumé, Vanderpool-Wallace also competed in the event against compatriot Ariel Weech in their second head-to-head matchup in a final. The 23-year-old Weech got seventh in 26.48.

With her final individual performance, the Bahamas finished fourth in the medal standings in swimming. Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico placed 1, 2, 3 in that order with 32, 24 and 23 medals respectively. The Bahamas is 8th over in the medal chart that is led by Mexico.

Team Bahamas got a pair of silver from Joanna Evans in the 400m free (4:16.82) and the 800m free (8:39.61), the latter eclipsing her previous national record of 8:39.75 that she posted at the Junior Olympic Games in Nanjing, China in August.

Also on Thursday, right after Vanderpool-Wallace got her final individual medal, Elvis Burrows got the victory in the men’s B final of the 50m free in 23.43. The final saw George Bovell III from Trinidad & Tobago clinch the gold in 22.30.

The curtain came down for Team Bahamas in the women’s 4 x 100m medley relay of Weech, Margaret Higgs, Vanderpool-Wallace and Evans just missing out on an appearance on the podium with a fourth place in 4:20.25. Mexico won in 4:10.04, followed by Colombia in 4:12.76 and Venezuela in 4:14.21.

On Tuesday, Vanderpool-Wallace got her second gold when she swum 54.87 in the 100m free to erase the previous games record of 55.00 that was set by Vanessa Garcia of Puerto Rico from the last CAC in 2010 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

However, it was short of her Bahamas national record of 53.73 that she established in 2012 at the Olympic Games in London, England. In the race, Weech was seventh again in 57.80.

Vanderpool-Wallace inked her name in the record books for the first time at the games when she got her initial gold in the 50m fly on Sunday, clocking 26.46 to shatter her games’ record of 25.92 that she had recorded in Puerto Rico.

Although she failed to lower her meet and national record of 59.74 from Veracruz, Vanderpool-Wallace got her third gold on Tuesday in the 100m fly. She turned in a winning time of 1:00.17.

While swimming is done, the rest of Team Bahamas will swing into action starting today with siblings Cynthia and D’Arcy Rahming Jr competing in the preliminaries of judo. Rahming Jr will be the first on the map in the World Trade Center when he takes on Jeffery Ruiz of Puerto Rico in the men’s 66 kilogram class. Cynthia will follow 24 minutes later against Karina Tapia of Costa Rica in the women’s 57 kg.

Team Bahamas will also have athletes compete in boxing, track and field, sailing, rowing, cycling, bowling and the men’s volleyball. The majority of these disciplines will begin competition over the weekend. The games will wrap up on November 30.