Zaneta Alvaranga led Jamaica’s medal charge on the second day of the 32nd Carifta Swimming Championships, as they increased their tally to 14 medals at the Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Centre in The Bahamas on Sunday.

The Jamaicans captured two gold, one silver and two bronze medals on day two with the haul now standing at six gold, three silver and five bronze medals heading into yesterday’s third day of competition.

Jamaica was in sixth position with 270 points, having achieved 20 top eight performances and 27 additional personal best times.

Alvaranga, who expressed disappointment with her start in the morning session of the girls’ 11-12 50-metre butterfly when she clocked a national record time of 29.74 seconds, had no such problems in the final of the event.

She crushed her old national record by more than half-a-second when clocking a new national and Carifta record of 29.05 seconds to beat the field convincingly.

Her time bettered the previous Carifta mark of 29.09 seconds set by Guadeloupe’s Naele Portecop and was also the first record of the championships for Jamaica and the third age group record for the squad. The last time Jamaica won gold in this event was in 2009 when Danielle Boothe topped the field.

The girls’ 15-17 400m medley relay team mined the second gold on the day for the Jamaicans, as they took the title in a time of 4:30.62, which accounted for the fourth age-group record of the championships.

The team of Shaun Johnson, Bryanna Renuart, Angara Sinclair and Annabella Lyn lowered the old national standard of another powerful quartet of Danielle Boothe, Breanna Roman, Zara Bailey and Ivanna Chang of 4:30.65.

The 13-14 boys quartet of Kyle Sinclair, Cameron Brown, Dominic Mullings and Akeem Alleyne stroked their way to the silver in the 400m medley relay in a time of 4:17.12. It was the first silver medal won by Jamaica in the event since 2011.

Prior to her relay exploits, Johnson won bronze in the girls’ 15-17 100-metre backstroke in a new personal best time of 1:08.14. The previous record of 1:06.00 for the event held by Jamaican Kendese Nangle was broken by Lauren Hew of the Cayman Islands, who clocked 1:05.94 in the preliminaries.

In the gruelling 400m individual medley (IM), Renuart repeated her 15-17 bronze medal performance from Martinique in 2016 when she stopped the clock in a new personal best time of 5:12.45. She is the first Jamaican girl to win consecutive medals in this event in the age group in more than 15 years.

Meanwhile, the Jamaicans wasted little time in signalling intentions on the opening day, where they clocked nine medals, inclusive of an impressive four gold medals which set the tone for their day-two performances.

Nathaniel Thomas led from the front in the morning session in the boys’ 11-12 50-metre backstroke, where he stormed to victory in a new personal best time of 31.64 seconds to break the medal drought for Jamaica in the event that lasted well over five years.

The last medal was won by Timothy Wynter in 2009 when he took gold in then a games record time of 30.37 seconds, a time that still stands as the 11-12 national record.

Sabrina Lyn continued her rich vein of form from home, as she also copped gold in the girls’ 11-12 100m butterfly and by extension became the first Jamaican female swimmer in the age group to go below the 1:08.00-barrier when she stopped the clock in a national record of 1:07.22. She lowered the previous mark of 1:08.87 held by countrywoman Simone Vale.

Alvaranga also went below the old national standard in claiming silver in a personal best time of 1:08.02. This was the first time a Jamaican was winning better than a bronze medal in the event in over a decade.

The 13-14 girls made all in the 400m freestyle relay on their way to demolishing the old national standard of 4:12.73, a mark that was set before anyone of the members of the team were born.

The team of Gabrianna Banks, Brianna Anderson, Vale and Emily MacDonald took the title in 4:06.08 to lower the previous record set way back in 1996 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, by Olympians Angella Chuck and Janelle Atkinson, her sister Jilandre Atkinson and Kerrie Ann Steer, a coach at the Tornadoes Swim Club.

This is the first medal for Jamaica of any kind in the event for over a decade.

Shortly after, the 15-17 team of Anjuii Barrett, Johnson, Annabella Lyn and Britney Williams followed suit in topping their relay event in a time of 4:02.11. They were just outside the national record of 4:01.62, as they won the first gold medal in the event for the country since 2013.