Madelyn Moore clinched another gold at the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation Championships in Puerto Rico by winning the 18 and over 100 metres freestyle final in a time of 56.75 seconds last night.

In the men’s 100 freestyle final, Jesse Washington placed fifth in a time of 52.65 seconds.

Moore and Washington, Bermuda’s two representatives at the championships, were aiming to reach the Olympic Games qualifying standards. Moore was just off the B standard of 56.01 seconds while the A standard was 54.38.

Moore, who also won the preliminaries in the morning session, recording a winning time of 58.29 as she finished ahead of Allyson Ponson of Aruba (58.30) and Marissa Lugo of Puerto Rico (58.58).

In the final, Moore came from third place at the 50 metre mark, in 27.81sec, to finish a second ahead of Ponson (57.83) after recording the fastest time (28.94) in the second half of the race.

Ponson led at 50 metres in 27.34 but could not hold on for the win with her time of 30.49 over the second 50 metres.

“It wasn’t the swim I was hoping for, however, after talking to my coaches I’m definitely not disappointed with the swim,” said Moore who also won a gold the day before in the 50 metres butterfly. The 27.12 time was a meet record and PB for the 21 year old.

“It is the second fastest time I’ve posted thus far,” Moore said of her time in the freestyle final. “I am walking away with some positives and I am learning something new every swim.

“Ready to see what I can do in the 50 free and 100 butterfly.”

Washington was aiming for at least the B standard of 50.03, while the A standard was 48.57. The men’s winner, Mikel Schreuder of Aruba, clocked a winning time of 50.37, while Puerto Rico team-mates, Louis Ortiz and Jan Collazo won the silver and bronze after clocking times of 51.18 and 51.31 respectively.

Washington was ahead of Schreuder at the 50-metre mark, with his time of 24.59 putting him in third place halfway through the race. However, the 22-year-old Washington lost ground on the second half of the race with his time of 28.06, one of the slowest of the eight finalists.

Washington was fourth in the preliminaries yesterday morning, actually recording a faster time of 52.55 seconds to qualify for the final.