Last weekend, the Virgin Islands bagged eight medals at the annual CARIFTA Games.
The CARIFTA Games swimming championships took place in Nassau, Bahamas, where Elinah Phillip won the silver medal in the 50-metre butterfly with a time of 28.13 seconds, which also set a national record. She was fifth in the 100-metre freestyle with a time of 59.62 seconds. But she advanced to the 50-metre freestyle final with the best time of 26.67 seconds. In the final, she finished second with a time of 26.77 seconds for her second silver medal.
“This Carifta experience has been one of my best,” Elinah said. “I learned a lot about the way I swim and how to execute different aspects of my races as I develop as a competitive swimmer.”
The VI track and field team also had success at the games, which took place at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Curaçao.
Djimon Gumbs led the way with two silver medals in the under-18 boys shot put and discuss, while Akira Phillip won silver in the javelin.
Mr. Gumbs threw 60.43 metres in the discuss almost eight farther than Jamaica’s Cobe Graham. The winning throw came from Jamaican Daniel Cope with a new record of 61.25 metres.
In the shot put, Mr. Gumbs threw 17.58 metres to finish with silver.
In the under-20 girls javelin throw, Ms. Phillip tossed the spear 44.63 metres to take silver. Jamaica won the gold with a throw 45.10 metres.
Kala Penn, who jumped 12.73 metres in the girls under-20 triple jump, took the bronze medal.
The under-20 girls 4×400-metre relay team also won bronze. The team of Shaniyah Caul, L’T’Sha Fahie, Kala Penn and Sh’Kaida Lavacia ran 3:53.04 minutes to place third.
The other bronze medal came from Arianna Hayde in the girls under-18 javelin throw with a toss 41.90 metres. The Bahamas won the gold medal with a throw of 45.29 metres.
Overall, Jamaica won the Games for the 41st time in the event’s history.
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