TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Ethan McMillan-Cole set the tempo for a TTO medal haul at the 37th Carifta Swimming Aquatic Championships in the Bahamas on Saturday evening, capturing the first of six gold medals on the opening day of competition.

McMillan, who entered with the fastest qualifying time, struck gold in the boys 11-12 200m breaststroke final after clocking 2:49.68, an improvement from his earlier effort by almost two seconds.

McMillan enjoyed a wide gap in the final ahead of runner-up Christon Joseph of the Bahamas, who finished in 2:54.68.

TTO picked up a second gold medal shortly after courtesy Alejandro Agard in a much tighter contest. Agard claimed gold in the boys 13-14 200m breaststroke with an effort of 2:37.48. Jamaican Kai Radcliffe trailed in second by a mere 0.44 seconds.

No other TTO swimmer managed a podium finish until Liam Carrington picked up his first gold medal in the boys 15-17 backstroke, winning with a mark of 26.59 seconds. Marvin Johnson of the Bahamas was his nearest challenger, clocking 27.04 seconds for silver.

Jaden Mills won TT’s only individual bronze on Saturday after placing third in the boys 13-14 100m fly. Barbados’ Victor Ashby won the race in 59.72 seconds, ahead of Aruba’s runner-up Ocean Van Loon (1:00.74) and Mills (1:01.03).

Shortly before, Christian Awah and Johann-Matthew Matamoro won gold and silver, respectively, in the boys 18-and-over 50m backstroke.

Awah, 29, one of the most senior swimmers at the championship, clocked 26.82 seconds, ahead of 19-year-old Matamoro’s 27.30 seconds. Grenada’s Zachary Gresham (27.43 seconds) finished third.

Team TTO picked up two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the six closing relay events on Saturday evening. TTO closed on a high winning the boys 15-17 400m freestyle relay, clocking 3:32.24, ahead of the Bahamas (3:34.37) and Jamaica (3:34.87). The 13-14 boys did it first, however, taking their 400m relay victory in 3:47.00.

The 11-12 girls opened the relay segment, finishing in second in 4:24.44, behind team Bahamas (4:20.75) and ahead of team Barbados (4:34.46). TTO claimed their penultimate medal of the night in the girls’ 15-17 400m relay, taking bronze after clocking 4:06.27, well behind Cayman Islands, the winners in 3:58.94 and runners-up, the Bahamas (4:05.64).

Action continued last evening with more TT swimmers set to contest an array of finals. The event will end after the evening session on Monday.

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