Some of Bermuda’s athletes and swimmers made their first appearances at the Carifta Games this morning.

The opening sessions took place on the track and in the pool as some of the 21-strong squad attempted to qualify for evening finals.

The first Bermudian on the track was Amaris Munya, who finished fifth in the second semi-final of the under-17 girls 400 metres, recording a time of 59.84sec. That time was good enough to finish tenth of the 15 runners overall and she was named second alternate for the final.

Zydon Lightbourne-Furbert produced a strong finish and a time of 49.76 to claim third in the first semi-final of the under-17 boys 400 metres, but he just missed out on the final with only the top two finishers qualifying. David Morris finished sixth in the third semi-final, crossing the line in 51.30.

Amara Samuels was sixth in the second semi-final of the under-17 girls 100 metres

Lashee Jones and the rest of the runners in the third semi-final were removed from the track because of issues with the starting-gun mechanism. Forced to wait more than ten minutes to compete, Jones ran a stormer to finish third in 12.68.

Kyah Richardson and Norre Robinson faced tough tasks in the under-20 men’s 100 metres semi-finals with only the winners of the four semis and the four fastest losers making it to the final.

Robinson ran a superb race to finish fourth in 10.69, while Richardson finished seventh in the second semi-final in 11.48.

There were personal bests all round for the swimming team with Sylvia Lim and Marleigh Howes qualifying for finals in the girls 11-12 50 metres backstroke and the girls 15-17 100 butterfly respectively.

Lim posted a PB of 35.04 in the heats of the 50 back to qualify eighth fastest, while Howes set a personal record of 1:05.85 in the 100 fly to head into the final with the seventh-fastest time. Their finals take place at 8pm and 8.26pm Bermuda time respectively.

Thomas Cechini is also chasing a medal tonight with his “timed final” in the 1,500 freestyle likely to contain those competing for a spot on the podium. .

Katherine Wheddon knocked half a second off her PB in the girls 15-17 50 metres backstroke but her time of 33.21 placed her 18th of the 32 swimmers.

Connor Hupman was the unluckiest of the Bermuda swimmers in action on the opening day. Competing in the boys 15-17 50 backstroke, Hupman finished with the ninth-fastest time of 28.22 to miss out on the final by just one place and 0.04. He will be parachuted into the final if one of those above him withdraws.