12 medals, one national record after day three of CCCAN Champs

TRINIDAD and Tobago swimmers splashed to 12 medals and on day three of the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Federation (CCCAN) Championships which continued in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 19.

Altogether, TT swam to seven gold, two silver and three bronze medals. As a result, they set one new national record in the men 18 and over 800m freestyle relay and three meet records in the men's 18 and over 50m freestyle, men's 15-17 100m backstroke and women's 15-17 100m backstroke.

The new national record came courtesy of a silver medal performance from Nikoli Blackman, Graham Chatoor, Aqeel Joseph and Johann-Matthew Matamoro, as they combined to clock seven minutes and 52.59 seconds (7:52.59) in the 800m free relay.

The quartet bettered the 7:54.27 clocking set by Dylan Carter, Jabari Baptiste, Jivan Chee Food and David McLeod in 2016.

Mexico won the relay event in 7:37.97 while Costa took bronze in 8:12.55.

In other races, Blackman set a new meet record in his golden 50m free swim. He clocked 22.40s, eclipsing the tournament’s 22.75s clocking set back in 2009. Joseph was fourth (23.25s) in this race.

Liam Carrington also set a new meet record in the 100m back by winning the event in 56.30s. The previous record stood at 57.25s, set in 2022. He also splashed to victory later on in the 50m free, clocking 23.55s, while countryman Zachary Anthony snagged bronze in 23.66s.

Another meet record came from Ferguson in the 100m back, as she won gold in one minute and 02.68s (1:02.68). The 16-year-old’s performance bettered CCCAN’s previous record of 1:03.90, from 2021.

Additionally, TT’s Jaden Mills won gold in the men 13-14 50m free as he touched the wall in 24.62s. Compatriot Aaron Colthrust was joint fourth with Mexican Daniel Grillo, in 25.30s.

Isabella Dieffenthaller topped the field in the women’s 15-17 50m free as she touched the wall in 26.49s. Teammate Amari Ash was fourth in 27.32s.

Olympian Cherelle Thompson was also golden in the women's 18 and over 50m free as she topped the field in 26.10s. Despite winning, her time was not good enough for Olympic qualification. This meet brought an end to her Olympic qualifying campaign.

Meanwhile, Taylor Marchan earned silver in the women 11-12 100m back, in 1:09.44.

Ornella Walker swam to bronze in the women's 18 and over 100m back in 1:04.05. TT’s Anthony, Anpherne Bernard, Liam Robert and Carrington also claimed bronze in the men's 15-17 800m freestyle relay. They clocked 8:03.99.

20 chances of getting medals.

Team official Stephen Mendoza hailed the team’s performance as “exceptional”. He added that no races were contested on Thursday due to Tropical Storm Alberto.

Mendoza, however, confirmed the team was safe and was being kept up to date by listening to official briefings there on the weather.