The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas closed out its history-making appearance at the 2018 CARIFTA Aquatic Championships with its final event in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Open Water 5K Swim was the final segment of the event and six Bahamian swimmers took to the course at James Bond Beach in Kingston.

The top finishers for Team Bahamas came in the Girls' 14-15 division. Salene Gibson finished sixth among the field of 16 athletes with a time of 1:10:09.95 seconds.

Giovanna Eneas finished one spot behind in seventh place with 1:10:18.75.

In the Girls' 16-18, Anya MacPhail finished ninth in 1:09:29.78 and Kaliyah Albury was 12th in 1:13:22.26.

In the Boys' 16-18, Darren Laing finished 10th in the field in 1:06:04.04, however, Tristan Thompson did not finish.

Taye Fountain was the Bahamas' lone competitor in the Boys 14-15, clocking 1:10:56.18.

The Bahamas began the CARIFTA Aquatics Championship last month in the Water Polo segment of the event with an historic finish of three gold medals.

The Bahamas defeated the host country in the U-14, U-16 and U-19 boys' finals at Kingston's National Stadium. The U-14 team began the morning with a dominant 16-2 win over Jamaica. The U-16 Boys successfully defended their CARIFTA title with a 17-3 win over Jamaica. The U-19 Boys team capped the competition and exacted revenge on Jamaica for last year's loss with a 13-10 win.

The Bahamas followed this week and again claimed the top spot among elite junior swimming programmes in the region.

The 36-member team won back-to-back CARIFTA Swimming Championships and their fourth title in five years.

The team completed the four-day meet with a total of 789 points. They finished 181 points ahead of second place finisher and 2016 champion Guadeloupe, who scored 608. Jamaica finished third with 607.5 points, Trinidad and Tobago scored 576 and the Cayman Islands rounded out the top five with 502.5 points.

The Bahamas won a total of 56 medals - 23 gold, 22 silver and 11 bronze.

The high-point scorer for Team Bahamas among girls was Lilly Higgs with 51 points in the 15-17 division while Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson posted 37 points in the 13-14 division.