Shark Swim Club’s Morgan Hopkins is the only Bermudian to so far claim a medal at the Carifta Swimming Championships in Kingston, Jamaica after taking bronze in the girls’ 11-12 200 metres breaststroke on Saturday.

The 12-year-old, competing in her first international meet, finished behind Je’Nae K Saunders of the Bahamas and Evita Leter of Surinam in a time of three minutes, 6.55 seconds after qualifying fourth in her preliminary heat.

Her participation in the final had at one time been in doubt, however, after an official insisted she had made an illegal movement on the starting block — a decision that was strongly rejected by the Bermuda camp and successfully appealed.

A total of 13 local swimmers travelled down to the Caribbean last week for the championships — the largest ever Bermudian contingent to compete in the prestigious regional meet.

Also on Saturday, 14-year-old Stephanie Miles finished ninth in the girls’ 13-14 800 metres freestyle in a time of 10.31.93, having qualified sixth in her preliminary heat while Eleanor Gardner, 15, came in sixth in the girls’ 15-17 800 metres freestyle final in a time of 9.57.59, shaving four seconds off her Bermuda age-group record.

In the girls’ 11-12 50 metres backstroke, 12-year-old Ashley Yearwood placed fifth in a time of 34.55 seconds — another local age-group record — and Nicholas Patterson finished seventh out of eight in the boys’ 11-12 50 metres backstroke in 34 seconds exactly.

The girls’ 13-14 50 metres backstroke saw two Bermudians in action with 14-year-old Rebecca Heyliger pipping Nicole Yearwood into fourth place in a time of 33.87 seconds.

Nick Thomson, 15, was fifth out of eight in the boys’ 15-17 50 metres backstroke in 29.27 while Ashley Yearwood came second to last in the girls’ 11-12 100 metres butterfly in 1.14 .01 — though she broke her own age-group butterfly record both in the preliminary heats and in the final itself.

Patterson, 12, arrived at the finish line in fourth place out of eight swimmers in the boys’ 11-12 100 metres butterfly, smashing the age-group record by six seconds with a fine swim of 1.08.32.

Nicole Yearwood took seventh spot in the girls’ 13-14 100 metres butterfly in 1.14.05.

And in relay action, the Bermudian duo of Denzel Wellman and Kellan DeSilva, both 15, finished fifth out of six in the boys’ 15-17 400 metres freestyle.