Carifta Medals for Antigua & Barbuda

There were medals for Antigua & Barbuda in both the swimming and athletics aspects of the 2017 Carifta Games held over the Easter weekend, with reigning Junior Sportsman of the Year, Lleyton Martin dominating the pool in the Bahamas and Joella Lloyd burning up the track in Curacao.
Martin won gold at the Carifta Swimming Championships after finishing ahead of the pack in the 50-metre butterfly. He clocked 26.15 seconds, a personal best, to finish ahead of Davante Carey of the Bahamas and Ian Pinder also of the Bahamas.
Martin had previously won silver in the 100-metre butterfly.
Also, finishing in podium position on Sunday was Noah Mascoll-Gomes who won silver in the 200-metre butterfly.
In other results on Sunday, Stefano Mitchell finished seventh in the 50-metre butterfly and Makaela Holochack was sixth in the 200-metre freestyle.
In the boys 13-14 medley relay, the team comprising Alex Bento, Jason Wuillez, Martin and Diallo Marshall copped a fourth place finish.
The country finished eighth in the girls 15-17 medley relay.

 
 
In other swimming results over the weekend, Wuilliez also impressed in the pool, taking bronze in the 200-metre breaststroke. 
There were also credible performances from Mitchell who placed seventh in the 100-metre butterfly, Zoe Dennis who was eighth in the 200-metre breaststroke and Olivia Fuller who placed eighth in the 100-metre butterfly. 
Technical director of the Antigua & Barbuda Swimming Federation (ABSF) Edith Clashing commended the athletes for their performances.
“I’ve been looking at some of the results overall and I think it’s one of the best teams we have put forward for Carifta for many years. I reflect on the days when we were just in the heats and then we moved to being in the finals and it’s just maybe a year or two ago we started winning medals. What was nice was to see someone even other than Lleyton and Noah winning medals,” she said. 
Meanwhile, Lloyd and long jumper Sheldon Noble, going into Monday’s final day of competition had both won silver medals at the FLOW sponsored track & field Carifta Games competition in Curacao.
Lloyd won silver in the 100-metre girls’ under-18 with a time of 11:66 while Noble leaped a distance of 7.03 metres to finish second in the field event. 
There was a medal for triple jumper Taeco O’Garro who covered a distance of 14.56 metres to finish        third in the boys’ under-18 championships.          
However, there was disappointment in the boys’ under-20 finals as Coull Graham was disqualified after making a false start in the 100-metre race. 
Under-20 girls’ athlete, Bliss Solyne, finished just outside the medals in the 100-metre finals in fourth with a time of 11:74.
Also, long distance runner Kalique St Jean, finished fifth in the boys 1500-metre under-20 finals in a time of 4 minutes and 8.89 seconds.
Coach Jamille Nelson said conditions in Curacao were somewhat different from those here in Antigua, which affected some of the athletes slightly in their bid to medal.
“For all the races, they are basically running into a negative wind so it would be slightly different from what they are accustomed to at YASCO. We are accustomed to running north to south in the 100 metres but we are actually running south to north here which is not really customary for a track. The athletes have been going out and doing their best and being the first Carifta for most of them, it’s also a learning experience,” he said.
Antigua & Barbuda were set to compete in the 200-metre finals last night.