A historic gold medal in the 11-12 mixed relays highlighted Jamaica’s seven-medal-winning performances on day three of the 32nd Carifta Swimming Championships as they increased their tally to 21 medals at the Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Centre in The Bahamas on Monday.

The Jamaicans captured two gold, three silver and two bronze medals to celebrate what was a happy Easter Monday, which took their haul to eight gold, six silver and seven bronze heading into yesterday’s final day of competition.

They remain in sixth position on 392 points, but seem poised for a top-five finish on the 20-team table which is headlined by the host nation who leads with 600.5 points.

Guadeloupe (515 points), Cayman Islands (479.5 points), Trinidad & Tobago (457.5 points) and Barbados (417 points) make up the top five.

Following some impressive displays over the first two days of the championships, the debutants of the 11-12 age group were inspired to continue the country’s rich vein of form, and so they did in emphatic fashion.

The team of Zaneta Alvaranga, Paige Lewis, Joshua Alleyne and Nathaniel Thomas, romped the 11-12 400-metre mixed freestyle relays, posting a new national and Carifta record of 4:10.28 to land gold. They finished ahead of The Bahamas (4:10.87) and Virgin Islands Swimming (4:13.47).

Jamaica was being represented in the event for the first time.

The second gold medal also came in a relay of another kind, as the 15-17 girls’ team of Britney Williams, Angara Sinclair, Bryanna Renuart and Annabella Lyn made no mistake in the 800m freestyle relay, winning in 8:50.53 minutes. Cayman Islands (9:02.91) and The Bahamas (9:03.42) were second and third, respectively.

Earlier, Cameron Brown got the day’s proceedings under way with a fine performance in the boys’ 13-14 50m breaststroke, clocking 31.43 seconds for silver behind Nkosi Dunwoody (31.04s) of Barbados. Devante Carey (31.54s) of The Bahamas was third.

Alvaranga also added to her individual tally after earning silver in the girls’ 11-12 100m freestyle, where she stopped the clock in 1:01.25 behind Bermuda’s Elon Daley (1:00.58). Payton Zelkin (1:01.83), also of Bermuda, was third.

Thomas was third in the boys’ 11-12 100m freestyle in 59.45 seconds behind Frederick-Westerborg (58.72s) of Cayman Islands and Sam Williamson (58.88s) of Bermuda.

Emily MacDonald clocked a fast 59.28 seconds, but had to settle for silver in the girls’ 13-14 100m freestyle. The event was won by the Cayman Islands’ Ali Jackson in 58.31 seconds, while Loga Watson-Brown (59.77s) of Bermuda was third.

And Annabella Lyn ensured that the medals continued to flow when she clocked 59.30 seconds for bronze in the girls’ 15-17 100m event, a full second behind winner Lauren Hew (58.30s) of Cayman Islands. Amira Pilgrim (58.85s) of Trinidad & Tobago was second in the event.

— Sherdon Cowan