Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA MOVED up to fifth place in the overall rankings at the 16th Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships in Puerto Rico after the second day of action on Tuesday.
Jamaica managed to add four more medals to their tally of seven from the first day thanks to a gold through Matthew Hilton, two silvers from Brad Hamilton and Dominic Lee and bronze from Dominique Dawson.
Hilton was the toast of the day's proceedings after he destroyed a 15-17 200-metre breaststroke field in a time of two minutes, 36.45 seconds. Puerto Rico's Harold Rivera was second in 2:39.39 ahead of his teammate, Francisco Perez (2:39.84).
Hamilton (58.10 seconds) wound up second in the boys' 15-17 100-metre butterfly behind Puerto Rico's Juan Serrano (57.28) and the Bahamas' Vereance Burrows (58.47).
SILVER MEDAL
Lee earned his silver medal in the boys' 18 and over 200-metre breaststroke after he finished behind Puerto Rico's Jose Perez (2:31.98) with a time of 2:32.57. The Dominican Republic's Arturo Montilla (2:34.23) was third.
Dawson (1:10.13) continued to display her fine form at the championships after she finished third in the 13-14 100-metre butterfly event behind Puerto Rico's Debra Rodriquez (1:06.57) and Trinidad and Tobago's Samantha Raphael (1:08.11).
At press time last night, the Jamaicans were expecting big things after qualifying for ten finals.
Hamilton qualified for the boys' 15-17 50m freestyle and the 200m butterfly.
Lee had made his way to the 18 and over 50m freestyle while his teammate Raynae Hall sealed the final spot in the girls' 11-12 100m butterfly.
Steven Moodie, who has already made his way to the medal podium, was also a qualifier last night, finding himself in the 11-12 100m butterfly final.
POLE POSITION
Dawson, who has been in fine form and has more than one medal to prove it, was the sixth-placed qualifier for the girls' 13-14 200m butterfly and watched as her teammate Kendese Nangle took pole position in the girls' 11-12 50m backstroke.
David Bromfield was the third-placed qualifier in the boys' version of Nangle's event and is also expected to do well, while Ramon Walton made the final of the 13-14 age group in the same event.
Travis Forte was the final qualifier for the Jamaicans after he made the final of the boys' 15-17 50m backstroke event.
Puerto Rico maintain a stranglehold on the competition with 654 points. Trinidad and Tobago are still second with 416 while the Bahamas round out the top three with 322.5.
The Jamaicans, now on 125 points, trail the Dominican Republic on 170.5 points but have gone past the Netherlands Antilles, who have 115.
