JAMAICA STORMED into contention for top honours at the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships, thanks to brilliant individual achievements by 14-year-old Brad Hamilton and Olympic qualifiers Angela Chuck and Janelle Atkinson.
Jamaica's first medals of the night came after six of the 30 scheduled events had been completed.
In the 18 and over 400 metres individual medley Atkinson, who had a weak race for the first three disciplines, came on strong in the final 100 metre freestyle to take the event.
Angela Chuck, who had been performing more consistently throughout, held on to second place for a Jamaican quinella. Third was Puerto Rico's Vane Martinez.
Atkinson, who was swimming in an event that wasn't traditionally her forte, was markedly winded after the event and when asked how she felt, replied in an out-of-breath "You don't want to know".
Later in the boys 13-14 200-metre freestyle, Brad Hamilton swam a fast 1:59.85 seconds to take another gold medal for the host country.
Apart from posting a fast time, Hamilton swam a smart race, going out hard for the first two laps and allowing his competitors to catch up in the third lap while he recuperated for a burst on the final 50 metres.
"I knew I had good competition from lane three (Aruba's Van Der Vaart) so I had to go out hard," he said. "I rested a little on the last third, however, and I had enough to take it home," he said.
Jamaica's coach Jackie Walter was pleased with her team's performance on the first day.
"It was a good performance from the team and I was pleased at the team effort. We had Janelle and Angela doing races just to help us bring in points and all the younger swimmers chipped in that area. I was especially pleased with the fact that the Olympic swimmers were showing their class and dropping their times, which is exactly what you want to see going into a big competition," she said.
