The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Lamar Taylor, coming off his historic national record-breaking, gold medal performance on Wednesday in the men’s 50 back, picked up his second medal with a bronze in the 50m freestyle at the 24th Central American and Caribbean Games yesterday.

As the swimming competition came to a close at the Complejo Aquatic Merilot in San Salvador, El Salvador, Emmanuel Gadson and Rhanishka Gibbs were also in action for Team Bahamas, which was organised through the Bahamas Olympic Committee.

Taylor, a 20-year-old native of Grand Bahama, touched the wall in 22.51 for third place in the A final of the men’s 50m freestyle last night. He trailed gold medallist Dylan Carter of Trinidad & Tobago, who won in 21.87, followed by Mikel Schreuders of Aruba with the silver in 22.43.

The performance came after Taylor posted a time of 25.08 and, in the process, attained the A qualifying standard for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, scheduled for July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan.

Taylor, who celebrated his 20th birthday on June 21, had an exceptional showing at the games as he was also seventh in the 100m freestyle and ninth in both the 100m backstroke and 50m butterfly.

Meanwhile, Gadson finished with third place in the B final of the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2:26.05. He advanced out of the preliminaries with 11th overall in 2:25.91 after he was fifth in the last of three heats to make the B final.

The 17-year-old Gadson also got 17th in the 100m breaststroke, 20th in the 50m breaststroke and 23rd in the 50m butterfly during the games.

Gibbs, 17, just missed out on making it back for a second swim in two events. In the women’s 50m butterfly, she clocked 29.19 for sixth in the second of four heats for 17th overall, just missing the 16th and final spot for the B final.

She was also two spots short of advancing in the women’s 50m freestyle in 27.66 after she was seventh in the last of five heats of the preliminaries.

In other events she competed in, Gibbs got sixth in the 50m breaststroke.

Gadson and Gibbs also teamed up with siblings Luke-Kennedy and Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson as they placed 12th overall in the mixed 4 x 100m relay in 3:54.80.

Luke-Kennedy Thompson, 21, competed in four individual events where he was 12th in the 400m freestyle, 13th in the 200m freestyle, 14th in the 50m breaststroke and 18th in the 100m breaststroke.

Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson, 19, was 11th in the 100m breaststroke, 12th in the 200m individual medley and 15th in the 100m freestyle as she competed in her three individual events during the games.

Swimming, which was coached by Camron Bruney, follows boxing, which had a two-man team which completed competition so far in the games for Team Bahamas.

While Rashield Williams advanced to the second round of the men’s 63.5-kilogram class, veteran Carl Hield got eliminated in the first round of the men’s 71kg.

Up next for Team Bahamas will be water polo - the team will also begin competition on Saturday.

Their competition is scheduled to run until Friday, July 7.

The team, led by the management and coaching staff of Laszlo Borbely, Wandalee Burrows, Brenna Turnquest and Christine Wallace-Whitfield, consists of Jayden Seymour, Gabriel Sastre, Alexander Turnquest, Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield, Khari Marshall, Aidan Johnson, Alexander Gomez, TeSean Henfield, Dominic Demeritte, Logan Carey, Matthew Thompson, Joshua Gibson and Tonny Simon.

Athletics will have one of the biggest teams at the games when competition starts on Sunday and wraps up on Saturday, July 8.

The team will be coached by Bernard Rolle and will comprise of the following athletes:

Women - NCAA javelin champion Rhema Otabor; sprinter Anthaya Charlton in the 200m and Tamara Myers in the triple jump.

Men - Decathlon national record holder Kendrick Thompson and immediate past record holder Ken Mullings and high jumpers Shaun Miller Jr and Kyle Alcine.

These athletes, with the exception of Myers, are expected to return home in time to compete in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ National Track and Field Championships, scheduled for July 5-7 at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.

The Bahamas was also expected to be represented by the men’s national basketball and softball teams, but they both withdrew because of a lack of funding.

The chef de mission for Team Bahamas is Bishop Joseph Smith, a vice president of the BOC.