Bermuda add to medal haul in Aruba
Bermuda national team swimmers have amassed 23 medals over the first three days of the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships in Aruba.Top youngster Jesse Washington once again led the charge on day three claiming two golds and a silver medal.He broke the Bermuda 13 to 14 age group record in the 100 metre butterfly, setting a time of one minute and 3.78 seconds.He then followed up his gold medal performance by claiming silver in the 50 metre backstroke.To cap off a fine day in the pool, Washington lowered the Bermuda 13 to 14 200m freestyle record from 2:11.15 to 2:05.21.Also on Monday, in-form Shannon Hassell lowered her personal best time by three seconds to claim bronze in the 200m freestyle.In her next event, the 50m backstroke, Hassell had to settle with a bronze after having a difficult time staying straight and had a couple of lane line bumps.Roy-Allan Burch, who won a gold in the 50m freestyle earlier this week, finished the 50m backstroke in 28.14 seconds to set a new national record as he placed fifth.Lisa Blackburn continued her medal haul with an impressive 200m fly that lowered her national record as she took the silver, and although Ashley Yearwood didn’t have her best start in her 50m backstroke, she managed to grab the bronze medal.Rebecca Heyliger had a strong 50m freestyle lowering her best time as she finished fifth, while Nic Patterson came in sixth in his 200 fly.Head coach Ben Smith said he was pleased with Bermuda’s medal haul at the Championships.“Watching these great Bermuda athletes competing so well for their country is a treat and I hope it will bring some well-deserved recognition to the sport of swimming.”Bermuda are ninth out of 15 countries in the medal table.Day two of the Championships saw Bermuda claim five medals, capped off by a superb swim from Julian Fletcher in the 200 metre backstroke as he blew away the competition on his way to a gold medal and the meet record in the process.Blackburn and Stephanie Myles took the gold and bronze medals respectively in the 200 backstroke, with Blackburn just missing out on the meet record.Yearwood continued the medal haul for Bermuda in the first event of the evening with a time of 2:10.96 in the 200 freestyle to claim bronze.Heyliger also grabbed a bronze medal in the senior 100 metre backstroke.