A number of Jamaica’s young guns got the opportunity to gauge their current form and rub shoulders with their iconic compatriot Alia Atkinson at the recently concluded Southern Zone South Sectional Championships in Plantation, Florida.

The four-day meet which ended on Sunday, was conducted in long course metres where all individual events with the exception of the 800m and 1,500m freestyle being preliminaries and finals with the fastest 24 swimmers from preliminaries advancing to ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ finals.

There was also a ‘D’ final which was limited to the top under-18 athletes who did not qualify for the A, B, or C final.

With that in mind, the young sensations produced some creditable performances as they continued preparation for the 35th edition of the Carifta Swimming Championships scheduled for April 11-14 in Barbados.

While the likes of Sabrina Lyn, Emily MacDonald, Giani Francis, and Nathaniel Thomas battled gallantly among their senior counterparts, Atkinson was her usual impressive self, winning four of her five events contested at Plantation Aquatic Complex.

Atkinson, 31, was seemingly on a stroll throughout the event, which falls in line with her preparations for a fifth Olympic Games appearance, as her times in the various events were nowhere close to her best.

After clocking 32.04 seconds in the preliminary round of the 50-metre breaststroke, the champion swimmer went even faster in the final, stopping the clock in 31.37 seconds.

She then topped the 100m breaststroke field in 1:09.36, which was slightly slower than the 1:08.99 clocked in qualifying.

In the 50m butterfly, Atkinson topped the field in 27.30 seconds, again showing her class as she was second in the prelims in 27.80 seconds.

However, her best performance of the meet came in the 100m freestyle where she won in a brisk 56.80 seconds, after earlier clocking 58.29 seconds for sixth in the qualifying round.

Atkinson’s only blemish came in the 200m breaststroke where she clocked 2:41.47 for fifth in the final, which was some way off the 2:31.00 clocked in the preliminary round.

Lyn, 15, had her best placing of 17th in the 100m freestyle where she came home in 59.26 seconds, which bettered her 1:00.74 in qualifying.

The Tornadoes Swim Club representative’s next best placing came in the 50m breaststroke where she placed 18th in 35.61 seconds. She clocked 1:18.31 to place 23rd in the 100m breaststroke.

Her other performances were 28.25 for 24th in the 50m breaststroke, and 1:05.60 for 20th in the 100m butterfly, while she placed 71st in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 3:05.91.

For MacDonald, the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle proved her best events as she clocked 27.43 seconds and 1:00.12 to place 13th and 15th, respectively, in both events.

The 16-year-old also placed 19th and 25th in the 50m and 100m butterfly with times of 29.77 seconds and 1:05.17. Her time of 2:15.35 was not enough to see her through to the 200m freestyle final, as she placed 52nd.

Thomas, 15, another Tornadoes Swim Club representative, had good fortune in the 50m backstroke where he placed eighth in 28.59 seconds, but could only manage 1:03.23 in the 100m backstroke final which placed him 28th.

In the 50m and 100m butterfly, Thomas clocked 27.40 seconds and 59.65 seconds for 16th and 31st, respectively, while his 50m and 100m freestyle times of 25.57 seconds and 55.91 seconds, were good enough for 24th.

Meanwhile, 13-year-old Francis, the youngest of the lot, would have grasped a lot from the experience despite failing to make finals in all her events.

Francis, who is a member of the Y-Speedos Swim Club, clocked 33.83 seconds and 1:15.98 for 38th and 112th in the 50m and 100m backstroke. Her 50m and 100m butterfly times of 32.06 seconds and 1:13.26, placed her 70th and 103rd, respectively.