Trinidad and Tobago finished second on the points table after the final day of the 2013 CARIFTA Championships at Jamaica’s National Stadium pool in Kingston on Tuesday.
T&T’s final tally of 698 points was enough for them to comfortably take second place behind leaders Guadeloupe who had 742 points.
Hosts Jamaica had to settle for fourth place with 584 points behind third place Aruba who ended the competition with 659 points.
On the final day of the pool events on Tuesday, T&T’s Dylan Carter had to settle for silver in the 50 metre freestyle, coming in behind 17-year old Suriname swimmer Renzo Tjon a Joe.
Tjon a Joe touched the wall in 23.44 while Carter, who won the 200 freestyle in a new CARIFTA age group record of 1:50.35 and added gold in the 100 fly in a new meet record of 55.00, was close behind in a time of 23.51.
Carter’s T&T teammate Joshua Romany was third in 24.27, followed by St Lucia’s Joshua Daniel and Suriname’s Zuhayr Pigot tied in 24.33.
Although T&T had to settle for silver and bronze in the 50-free, there was still a lot to celebrate as Alexandria Donahue secured gold in the girls’ 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:12.33
T&T’s Tyla Martin added a win in the 200 backstroke to earlier victories in the 100 and 200 butterflies with a 2:26.63 swim – three seconds better than anyone else was in this race.
T&T also won gold in the Boys 13-14 200m free relay in 1:42.77 and Martin was second in the Girls 15-17 400m free in 4:32.15.
T&T also won medals in the Girls 13-14 50m through Amira Pilgrim (silver in 27.78); Boys 13-14 50m free through Adrian Goin (silver in 25.29); Boys 11-12 100m breaststroke via Jeron Thompson (silver in 1:17.71 ); Boys 15-17 100m breaststroke through Jonathan Ramkissoon (bronze in 1:07.42); Girls 13-14 200m backstroke via Ariel Cape (bronze in 2:33.16); and Boys 15-17 200m backstroke through Jabari Baptiste (bronze in 2:16.04).
Final CARIFTA points rankings:
1. Guadeloupe – 742
2. Trinidad and Tobago – 698
3. Aruba – 659
4. Jamaica – 584
5. Bahamas – 507
6. Barbados – 485
7. Martinique – 353
8. Suriname – 350.50
9. Netherlands Antilles – 151
10. Cayman Islands – 107