Trinidad and Tobago Junior Olympic gold medallist Christian Homer grabbed another gold and another Games record at the 28th Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica when he swam to his third meet record in as many finals on Wednesday.
This time, the 20-year-old Homer, who missed the meet two years ago in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico established a new CCCAN record in the men’s 18 & Over 50 metres backstroke when he touched the wall in 25.93 seconds to better countryman Joshua Mc Leod’s 2011 mark of 26.49.
St Lucian Jordan Augier took silver in 27.10, while Mc Leod got bronze in 27.84 seconds.
And the boys’ under-17 water polo team had some measure of redemption after their Carifta silver medal performance against Jamaica in April when they whipped the Carifta champions 17-1.
Jamaica had trouble advancing the ball against a stifling defence and turned the ball over many times.
According to team manager Paul Newallo, the entire team contributed to this victory and spirits remain high as the focus now turns towards the game against Panama today.
Back to swimming action, Homer’s other records set so far in Costa Rica include the 100m backstroke in 57.47 seconds to lower the 2001 mark of 57.56, and the 200m individual medley record with a time of two minutes, 07.80 seconds.
Homer later returned to the pool to swim the anchor leg for the 4 x 200 freestyle which also involved Cadell Lyons, Mc Leod (J) and Strasser Sankar. They combined for gold in eight minutes, 04.97 seconds.
The trio of Cherelle Thompson, Mc Leod (J) and Kristien Julien also grabbed gold for T&T on the third day of competition to go along with three silver and two bronze for a total of 22 medals--11 gold, four silver, seven bronze.
Thompson was the first to get gold for T&T on the night when she sped home in the 18 & Over girls 50m freestyle in 26.84 seconds, well ahead of Guatemala’s Gisela Morales (27.27) and El Salvador’s Pamela Benitez (27.39).
Mc Leod won his second individual gold in as many nights after he touched the wall first in the 18 & Over boys 50m freestyle in 23.51 to beat teammate Sankar (24.03) and Honduran, Allan Guitierrez (24.13).
On Tuesday, Mc Leod won the 100m butterfly in 56.01 seconds, followed by countryman Lyons (56.14) and Gutierrez (56.50).
Julien also won her second gold in as many nights when she proved unbeatable in the 15-17 50m backstroke in 31.34 seconds to beat Aruba’s Ally Ponson (32.89) and Venezuelan Marcela Gramcko (32.94) into the silver and bronze medal positions.