Action from 2008 CARIFTA Swimming Championship in Aruba

SAVANETA, Aruba, CMC - The French Antilles logged seven final day victories and emphatically retained the CARIFTA Swimming Championship title on Sunday night at the Piscina Olimpico Pool.

 
The French unit, comprising swimmers from Martinique, Guadeloupe, French St Martin, and French Guiana, showed good all-round strength and tallied 1,107 points.

 
The French Antilles missed out on having High Point Trophy winners in any category but finished 306 points ahead of runners-up Trinidad and Tobago (801) in the final tally.

 
The Bahamas placed third on 721 points with Jamaica (578) fourth, followed by the Netherlands Antilles (465) and Barbados (352).

 
The French Antilles collected 91 medals in all, comprising 29 gold, 38 silver and 24 bronze.

 
T&T picked up 24 gold, 15 silver, and 22 bronze for a total of 61, while the Bahamas collected 50 medals, 22 gold, 18 silver and 10 gold.

 
Bahamian McKayla Lightbourne was the final day star performer with two record-breaking swims and was edged for the Girls’ 15-17 age group High Point Trophy by her teammate Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace.

 
Lightbourne won the 100-metre breaststroke in one minute 14.57 seconds, erasing the old mark of 1:14.77 by Jamaican Alia Atkinson from 2006.

 
Her next triumph – and fourth record of the meet -- came in the 200 backstroke which she won in 2:22.89, shattering the 1999 mark of 2:25.68 by the Cayman Islands’ Shauna Powell.

 
Vanderpool-Wallace also achieved four meet records when she clocked a superb 26.34 Sunday night to win the 15-17 Girls’ 100 freestyle, topping Leah Martindale’s 12-year-old mark of 26.36.

 
Vanderpool-Wallace and Lightbourne then combined with Ashley Butler and Ariel Weech to win the 15-17 Girls 200-metre freestyle relay in a record 1:48.06, considerably lowering the old mark of 1:51.70 by Trinidad and Tobago in 1996.

 
As High Point Trophy winner her age-group, Vanderpool-Wallace collected a whopping 72 points.

 
T&T copped the fifth record on the final day when their 15-17 Boys’ 200 freestyle team stopped the clock 1:37.74 to shatter the Bahamians’ 2002 mark of 1:38.49.

 
Christian Homer, who helped T&T to that relay victory, emerged High Point Trophy winner for the Boys’ 15-17 age group with 53 points.

 
T&T’s Keegan Boisson boosted his impressive log of individual gold medals to seven when he captured the 50-free and 50 backstroke 11-12 Boys’ events and finished as the top swimmer – overall on points – at the four-day meet.

 
He clocked 2:31.81 to win the 200 backstroke ahead of his teammate Joshua Romany (2:33.89) and went 26.72 in landing the 50-free.

 
Keegan was the Boys’ 11-12 High Point Trophy winner with 75 points.

 
Victoria Ho, who helped Jamaica to one of their two gold medals Sunday night, was the Girls’ 13-14 High Point Trophy winner with 58 points.

 
She teamed up with the Kendese Nangle, Dania Banks and Raynae Hall to won the 13-14 Girls’ 200 freestyle relay in 1:54.02 over Barbados.

 
Jamaica’s other gold medal came through Britanny Kenny (2:35.42) in the 13-14 Girls’ backstroke.

 
The Jamaicans finished with 11 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze medals.

 
Barbadian girls copped two of the 400 freestyle relay titles.

 
Zabrina Holder won the 11-12 event in 4:56.50 and Lani Cabrera clocked 4:37.21 for the 13-14 gold.

 
Other High Point Trophy winners were Jordy Martis, of the Netherlands Antilles, who gathered 56 points to lead the Boys’ 13-14 group, and Jamaican Breanna Roman, among the Girls’ 11-12 with 50.5 points.

CMC lw/08