NASSAU — The U.S. Virgin Islands earned its first medal Sunday at the 2024 CARIFTA Swimming Championships in the Bahamas, with a dozen other swimmers advancing to finals over the weekend’s events.
Reagan Uszenski of St. Thomas, USVI took the silver medal in the 11-12 girls 200-meter freestyle, finishing second in the final in 2 minutes, 17.52 seconds. That was just under a second behind gold medalist Zara Persico, who won in 2:16.44, and more than a second ahead of bronze medalist Alissa Ferguson of the Bahamas, who finished in 2:18.89.
This was the second event the 12-year-old Uszenski advanced to the finals in during the weekend. She also made the finals in the 11-12 girls 50-meter backstroke Saturday night, finishing fifth in 34.23 seconds.
Outside of Uszenski, the closest a USVI swimmer came to medaling at the CARIFTA Championships was in two other finals Sunday.
St. Thomas’ Lindsay Barr finished fourth in the 18-over girls 100-meter backstroke final in 1:11.35, and St. Thomas’ Sasha Poe was fourth in the 15-17 girls 400-meter individual medley in 5:40.97.
Other U.S. Virgin Islands swimmers who advanced to CARIFTA finals this weekend were:
• St. Thomas’ Zion John Baptise finished fifth Sunday in the 13-14 boys 100-meter backstroke final in 1:04.12.
• St. Croix’s Daryan Maynard finished fifth Sunday in the 15-17 boys 400-meter individual medley in 4:56.47.
• St. Croix’s Kaeden Gleason finished sixth Saturday in the 15-17 boys 1,500-meter freestyle in 17:02.06.
• St. Croix’s Gaby Evora finished sixth Saturday in the 15-17 girls 200-meter breaststroke in 2:54.62.
• St. Croix’s Riley Miller finished sixth Saturday in the 15-17 girls 50-meter backstroke in 31.81 seconds.
• St. Croix’s Sawyer Holley finished seventh Saturday in the 13-14 boys 200-meter breaststroke in 2:47.47.
• St. Croix’s Caroline Tyrrell finished seventh Saturday in the 15-17 girls 200-meter breaststroke in 3:00.80.
• Barr also finished eighth Saturday in the 18-over girls 50-meter backstroke in 33.01 seconds.
• St. Croix’s Morgan Garner finished eighth Sunday in the 15-17 girls 400-meter individual medley in 6:11.88.
In relay events involving U.S. Virgin Islands teams:
• Tyrrell, Donnelly, St. Croix’s Lu Joseph and Miller teamed up to finish eighth Saturday in the 15-17 girls 400-meter freestyle relay in 4:24.43.
• Garner, Evora, Donnelly and Tyrrell teamed up to finish eighth Sunday in the 15-17 girls 400-meter medley relay in 5:06.16.
The CARIFTA Swimming Championships continue today at the Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Center, with the U.S. Virgin Islands 11th in the team standings with 39 points.
Host team Bahamas leads the standings with 525.5 points, followed by the Cayman Islands with 341 and Trinidad and Tobago with 317.
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