After a disappointing showing in track and field, The Bahamas is halfway to its first title ever in CARIFTA swimming.
The team widened its lead significantly after the second day of competition of the 29th Annual CARIFTA Swimming Championships at the Pisina Olimpico Roly Bisslik in Savaneta, Aruba.
Through 54 events, The Bahamas has amassed a total of 356 points. Host country Aruba currently sits in second with 284 points, and Trinidad & Tobago is in third with 264.50 points. The Bahamas is trying to secure its first ever CARIFTA swimming title.
In the medal count, the country trails Trinidad & Tobago, but the CARIFTA Swimming Championships is based on points.
Trinidad leads the medal standings with 22 total medals - 11 gold, six silver and five bronze, The Bahamas is second with 25 total medals - 10 gold, 11 silver and four bronze, and Aruba rounds out the top three with 25 total medals as well - seven gold, eight silver and 10 bronze.
After the first day of competition, The Bahamas had a 38.50 point lead over Trinidad, but since then Aruba has taken over second place, and The Bahamas is ahead by 72 points, a significant margin with just two days of competition to go. The closest The Bahamas ever got to winning the CARIFTA swimming title was eight years ago in Wildey, Barbados, when the event came down to not just the last day, but the last swim. Had The Bahamas won the last swimming event, they would have prevailed as champions over the French Antilles. That's how close the competition was.
After 2008, the French Antilles was disbanded, and Trinidad & Tobago and Guadeloupe have dominated since. Trinidad & Tobago won two straight titles in 2009 and 2010, and Guadeloupe won three straight from 2011 to 2013. The Bahamas has consistently been in the top three over the past 10 years, except for last year when the country dropped all the way to fifth.
All of that is certainly behind Team Bahamas now.
On the second day of competition, gold medals for The Bahamas came in the 11-12 Boys 50 meters (m) fly courtesy of Samuel Gibson, the 15-17 Girls 200m free and Individual Medley (IM) courtesy of Joanna Evans and the 11-12 Boys 400m free relay.
What a meet Gibson has been having so far! He picked up his second gold medal of the meet in the 11-12 Boys 50m fly, swimming a time of 28.72 seconds. His teammate Darren Laing was right behind him, finishing second in 29.51 seconds. Heindric Champrobert from Martinique won the bronze medal in 29.54 seconds.
In the 15-17 Girls 200m free, Evans dominated as she won easily in 2:05.52, Danielle Van den Berg, from Aruba, was second in 2:09.23, and Charlotte Backovic, from Guadeloupe, won the bronze medal in 2:09.25. Evans came right back and took gold in the 15-17 Girls 400 IM. Again she won easily, this time in 5:06.47. Van den Berg was once again second, this time in 5:11.61, and Danielle Boothe rounded out the top three in 5:16.89.
The Bahamas' 11-12 Boys 400m free relay team of Peter Morley, Izaak Bastian, Gibson and Laing, in that order, set a new CARIFTA record of 4:33.43, for the gold medal in that event. Martinique was second in 4:42.73, and Suriname won the bronze medal, in 4:43.84.
Competition continues today, and will run through Friday in Aruba.

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