LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter

NATIONAL TECHNICAL director of swimming, Jackie Walter, credited the presence of Jamaica's Olympic qualifiers and the advantage of home pool for the island's first hold on the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) overall title.

Alia Atkinson, Natasha Moodie and Jevon Atkinson, who will represent Jamaica at the Beijing Olympics next month in China, formed part of Jamaica's swimming delegation which won 46 medals and were second only to Trinidad and Tobago. The water polo and synchronised swimming teams contributed another eight medals for an unprecedented total of 54.

Team morale

"Bringing in the Olympians was good as it added to the morale of the team," said Walter.

She quickly added that home advantage was equally important as Jamaica fielded a 49-member squad, the largest ever.

"We have proved it several times that home pool is an advantage," she said.

"We had a lot of help from our 18 and overs because we were at home. If we were travelling, we wouldn't be able to afford to carry so many athletes. So home pool, again, was good."

Of the four age-group categories, Jamaica got most of their points in the 18-and-over category (199).

Failed to medal

Alia ended the championships with three gold medals in the girls' 18-and-over 50m and 100m butterfly and the 100m freestyle. Moodie won gold in the girls' 15-17 50m breaststroke and bronze in the 100m breaststroke. Jevon failed to medal as he was disqualified in the 50m freestyle heat.

On the final day on Tuesday, Jamaica won seven medals, highlighted by Kendese Nangle's record swim in the girls' 13-14 100m backstroke in 1:08.19.

"She broke the 14-year-old CISC meet record (1:08.37) which was held by Sangeeta Puri of Trinidad and Tobago, and she also set a new local record in the 13 to 14 age group," Walter pointed out.

The previous local record of 1:08.34 was set in 1995 by Lydia Gordon.

The water polo teams bagged four medals, with each team winning silverware.

Very pleased

The girls' 15 and under and the boys' 18 and over won gold, while the 15-and-under boys' team won silver and the boys' 16-17 won bronze.

The synchronised swimmers also pulled their weight, winning four medals.

They won a bronze (duet) and silver (team routine) in the 12-and-under category and two bronze (duet and team routine) in the 13-15 age group.

"I'm very pleased, particularly with the 13-15 age group," said coach Katherine Lim Sang. "It's the toughest group and we have risen to the level where we can be competitive."

OVERALL POINTS
Jamaica 1048.5
T&T 981
Aruba 884.5

SWIMMING

T&T 917
Jamaica 766.5
Puerto Rico 722

WATER POLO

T&T 64
Jamaica 60
Puerto Rico 26

SYNCHRO

Aruba 544
Puerto Rico 318
Jamaica 222

MEDALS TABLE

(Swimming)

G S B Total

Puerto Rico 32 21 9 62
T&T 26 28 33 87
Bahamas 15 17 10 42
Cuba 13 13 8 34
Jamaica 11 15 20 46