Shirley sets pace for Jamaica at Pan Am Aquatics Champs
Christanya Shirley blazed the trail for Jamaica on the opening day of the Pan Am Aquatics Age Group Championships, contributing two gold and a silver to the country’s four medals to start.
With two gold, one silver, and a bronze medal to their haul, the rising sensations have a decent platform on which they are expected to build heading into day two of the four-day meet in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago.
Shirley’s first victory came in the girls’ 13-14 50-metre breaststroke, which ironically was her first event of the day, as she stomped her class on the field with a brisk 35.24-second clocking. Victoria Matinez Vazques of Puerto Rico was second in 36.77s, with Guatemala’s Alejandra Alvarado (37.66s) third.
Kabiki Thomas and Brandon Wong were next up in the boys’ 13-14 50-m breaststroke, with the former copping bronze in 33.19s. The event was won by Puerto Rico’s Jorell Figueroa (31.01s) ahead of Sebastian Melgar (32.88s) of El Salvador. Wong was seventh.
Shirley was again on the podium in the girls’ 13-14 100m freestyle, stopping the clock in 1:01.06 for second behind Colombia’s Tifanny Murillo Jinete, who won in 59.15s. Maria Alejandra Alfonso (1:01.39) was third.
Jamaica’s other entrants, Leah Chin and Carolyn Levy-Powell, both tied for eighth place in 1:02.51, with Zaviya Cameron’s 1:04.85 placing her 13th.
The outstanding Shirley then joined forces with that trio to top the girls’ 13-14 200-m medley relay. They stopped the clock in 2:06.35, ahead of Puerto Rico (2:08.98) and Peru (2:11.04).
Earlier, Jamaica’s athletes wasted little time to find their rhythm, but despite producing credible efforts struggled for spots on the podium.
Meanwhile, Florida-based Morgan Cogle, who was expected to contribute towards the country’s medal hunt, was scheduled to join the team in the twin island republic late Thursday.
Cogle missed two of her events as a result of her late arrival, which was caused by numerous flight delays.
— Sherdon Cowan