Jamaica’s Artistic Swimming team has laid a good foundation for what can be expected for the remainder of the 32nd staging of the Central American and Caribbean Confederation (CCCAN) Championship, as they brought the curtains down on their leg of competition in Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday.

The four-member team from the Portland-based Island Aquatic Synchro copped three medals on the final day of the three-day Artistic Swimming competition to end with a tally of five medals. Their haul includes three silver and two bronze.

After displaying their individual talents over the first two days, the girls joined forces, and seemingly stepped up their game, once again delivering some credible performances in the three categories of the duets contested.

Solo silver medallist Joydayne White, 12, teamed up with Julicia West in the 12 and under duet to win bronze with a score of 52.8667. They placed behind Aruba’s pairs of Sofia Cardona and Abizahi Sanchez (57.1000) and Silvana Cardona and Alina Dirksz (55.9667).

Both White and West were pleased with their performances, but felt that there was a lot of scope for improvement.

“I came here to Barbados to represent my country well, but I was a bit nervous which resulted in me not doing as well as I could. So, although I came third in my duet with Joydayne White, I still think I can improve on my figures,” West declared.

For White “the competition was good”.

“This was the second time I won silver in my solo and the first time winning a bronze in the duet.

“I expected more from the duet because I know that we can do way better than we did, but it was not to be because my partner’s nose clip was falling off. However, she continued and we eventually finished in the top three, so I hope we were able to make our families and country proud.”

Meanwhile, Nyouka Baugh, 16, who also won solo silver on the opening day, partnered with Laila Bailey to mine silver in the Junior Freestyle Technical with a score of 59.4183.

Aruba’s Meghan Tromp and Kainah Croes (63.2398) won gold with Panama’s Ludovica Antimi Clari and Sofia Lebrija (59.0538) finishing third.

Baugh and Baily also won bronze in the Junior Freestyle Duet, scoring 60.0333. Aruba’s Meghan Tromp and Kainah Croes (66.5333) again topped the podium with Panama’s Maria Badan and Khrystel Zamora (60.7667) taking silver.

A beaming Baugh shared her thoughts after competition.

“I must say the competition was well organised, I didn’t really expect to get a silver because I haven’t been training a lot lately, but I am grateful and I think I did pretty well under the circumstances so I am really happy,” she noted.

Coach Olga Novokshchenova, a two-time Olympic gold medallist for Russia, believes Baugh and the others are “growing with every competition” and insist that they “must train more and compete on a regular basis” if they want to go to the next level in the sport.

Maureen Smith, vice-president of Artistic Swimming in the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) administration, was also pleased with the team’s performances.

“I am very proud of the girls’ accomplishment with the limited resources available, mainly limited pool access. We have a development programme up and running and we hope this and the results at CCCAN will attract corporate sponsorship,” she said.