By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Aquatics has delivered strong performances thus far at the XXXI CCCAN Swimming Championships, both from its water polo and swimming teams at the event in Aruba.

The Under-16 Water Polo team continues their path toward Youth Pan Am qualifications and advanced to today's gold medal match with a 10-4 win over Costa Rica last night.

Team Bahamas finished the preliminary round with a 13-11 win over Trinidad and Tobago. They opened tournament play on day one with a 15-4 win over Costa Rica and a 13-8 loss to Puerto Rico.

On day two they defeated El Salvador 18-11 to advance to the semis agianst T&T.

This recent success comes off another milestone last month where several members of the Bahamas' water polo programme secured roster spots with a United States-based team on their path to the National Junior Polo Olympics and a successful showing at the Sunshine State Games.

For the swim team, the Bahamas' first gold medal came on day two when Nigel Forbes swam a winning time of 2:36.00 seconds in the Boys 11-12 Breaststroke.

Luke-Kennedy Thompson won the first medal of the meet with a bronze in the Boys 15-17 1500m Free. He finished third in 17:03.22 behind Juan Morales of Colombia in 16:20.43 and Graham Chatoor of Trinidad and Tobago in 16:40.51. Trent Albury was fifth in 17:22.50.

The Bahamas also won silver in the 11-12 Mixed 200m Free Relay. Marvin Johnson, Keianna Moss, Devin Cuffy-Bethel and Nigel Forbes finished second in 1:50.64 behind Trinidad and Tobago who won in 1:50.29.

The 13-14 team of Lamar Taylor, Delaney Mizell, Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson and Roman Pinder also took silver in their race with a time of 1:46.78. Bermuda was first in 1:45.04.