The T&T senior women won gold at the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Championship with a 9-5 defeat of Guatemala for a 3-0 record in the two-team event at the Guatemala National Swimming Pool, Guatemala City, on Friday.
Winners of their two previous matches, 14-6 and 16-5, T&T got off to a slow start and trailed 1-3 at the end of the first quarter, with Jordan Van Reeken the scorer.
Shemiyah Ross scored two second-quarter goals for T&T to the Central Americans one, as the red, white and black cut the deficit to 3-4 at the half.
The third period saw T&T turn the match on its head with Anisa Rowley scoring a pair, and one each from Emma Chin Lee and Van Reeken to cancel out one for Guatemala and a 7-5 advantage.
Ross then added two more goals in the final quarter to put the icing on a 9-5 triumph and with it, top spot. The Under-16 boys teams will be favorites to claim the gold medal when they meet El Salvador in their final match today with a 3-0 record.
The local squad followed up wins over Costa Rica (47-3) and Puerto Rico (19-15) with a 27-3 demolition of Guatemala yesterday for six points, two ahead of Puerto Rico and El Salvador.
The Under-16 Girls had to settle for silver behind Puerto Rico while winless Guatemala got bronze. This after T&T swamped Guatemala 21-3 and 16-10 but went under to Puerto Rico, 9-12 and 2-10 in their four matches.
The Puerto Ricans also defeated the host 18-4 and 17-6. And in the Under-19 Boys competition, T&T faced off with El Salvador last night, needing nothing less than a win to have a chance at a medal.
This after T&T had to settle for a second drawn result in three matches, 10-10 with Panama on Friday after a 12-12 deadlock with Guatemala.
In their other match to date, T&T Under-19 Boys were edged out by Costa Rica 10-12. Panama led the table with six points from its four matches, followed by Costa Rica (five), Guatemala (three), T&T (two) and winless El Salvador, ahead of last night’s remaining two fixtures. Costa Rica faced Costa Rica in the other match.