Trinidad and Tobago earn 51 medals at CCCAN swim meet

TRINIDAD and Tobago's swimmers reeled in four gold medals on the final night of action in the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Federation (CCCAN) Championships in Monterrey, Mexico on June 22 as they brought their overall medal haul to 51.

Trinidad and Tobago's medal haul was only bettered by the host nation, who finished the meet with a whopping 224 medals. Trinidad and Tobago won 20 gold medals, 19 silver and 12 bronze medals as they racked up a 12-medal haul on the final night.

In the girls' 15-17 50-metre backstroke event, Tyla Ho-A-Shu showed off her speed when she hit the wall first in a time of 33.59 seconds. Mexico's Nilse Paz Cuellar grabbed second spot in 33.64 seconds, with Antigua' Ellie Shaw third in 33.68. TT's Catherine Dieffenthaller (33.87) finished outside of the medals in fourth.

In the girls' 15-17 200m backstroke, Zuri Ferguson comfortably got the better of the chasing pack when she grabbed the gold medal in two minutes, 17.85 seconds (2:17.85). Guatemala's Melissa Diego finished second in 2:22.13.

Twelve-year-old Marchan Taylor affirmed TT's proficiency in the backstroke event when she grabbed gold in the girls' 11-12 200m in 2:29.09 – edging the Mexican pair of Sofa Salgado Ovchinnikova and Alejandra Donaz Martinez.

Ethan McMillan-Cole landed a gold medal for TT in the boys' 11-12 50m backstroke when he stopped the clock at 33.57 seconds. Costa Rica's Eliel Torres (34.01 seconds) grabbed second ahead of Mexico's Fernando Munoz Martinez (34.05 seconds).

TT grabbed several silver medals on the final night, and the pair of Graham Chatoor and Liam Carrington were made to settle for second place in their respective men's 18-and-over 400m freestyle and the boys' 15-17 200m backstroke events. In the latter event, Carrington (2:07.54) was edged by Mexico's Rafael Arizpe Arriaga (2:06.88), with Chatoor (4:03.57) being bettered by Guatemala's Erick Gordillo (3:59.01) in the testing 400m freestyle event.

The TT swimmers made a big splash in the pool in the 400m medley relay events as well, but the dominant hosts got the better of them at every turn.

In the boys' 15-17 400m medley, the quartet of Carrington, Evan Gillard Bruce, Liam Roberts, Anthony Zachary clocked 4:01.02 to grab silver behind the Mexican quartet. In the girls' 15-17 400m medley, Dieffenthaller, Ferguson, Ash Amari and Isabella Dieffenthaller also claimed a silver medal behind their Mexican counterparts.

In the girls' 12-12 400m medley, the quartet of Taylor, Zalayhar Lewis, Marena Martinez and Zara Persico (4:57.89) took silver behind the Mexicans who finished the meet with 90 gold medals.