Raneika Bean shattered a long standing Bermuda record when she snatched a gold medal in the under-17 100 metres on the opening day of the Carifta Games in Trinidad and Tobago.

Almost exactly 21 years to the day that Debbie Jones set a new national mark in Tennessee on April 15, 1977, Bean broke the record of 11.46 seconds with a spectacular time of 11.28 in the heats. It was also a new Carifta record.

In the semi-finals Bean ran 11.81 seconds and then romped to victory in 11.96 in the final as two runners from Jamaica, a country known for producing outstanding sprinters, had to settle for silver and bronze.

The performance had national coach Gerry Swan beaming with pride last night upon hearing of the achievement from the 15-year-old who is also one of Bermuda's top female soccer players.

Swan didn't travel with the team which is being coached by former Bermuda sprinter Gregory Simons.

"It qualified her for the Commonwealth Games, the CAC Junior World Championships and would have qualified her for the 1996 Olympics and World Championships in Greece last year,'' said Swan as he explained the significance of her effort.

"I also did some research in terms of the 100 metres last year and the top 50 times in the world were 11.27 or quicker. The fastest was Marion Jones' 10.76.'' Swan had tipped Bean, a medal winner in the high jump last year, to be one of the medal contenders for the seven-member Bermuda team at the Games. But both her time and placing exceeded his expectations.

"She really set the track alight in Trinidad, particularly her time in the preliminaries,'' said the coach.

"Jamaica is the powerhouse in just about every track event, particularly the one, two and four (100, 200 and 400 metres). They dominate those events.'' Bean was also up against athletes from Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas and Martinique on the newly laid track. Last year she ran 12.36 seconds in placing sixth in the 100 metres final.

"The gold was beyond my expectations, more significantly the time she registered,'' admitted Swan.

"I thought she might be able to do 11.84, 11.94 but she did that and more.'' Some other notable performances were turned in by the local athletes on the first day on Saturday.

Richard Walcott enjoyed a personal best time of 4:21.52 in the under-17, 1500 metres final where he placed sixth. He clipped more than six seconds off his previous best time.

Calvert Lee, also in the under-17, was eighth in the 1500 metres in 4:71.19.

That, too, was a PB.

Latanya Dickinson, a silver medallist last year in the shot, just missed out on the bronze when she was fourth with a PB of 11.33 metres, more than two feet better than last year.

Gabriel Wilkinson placed eighth in the under-17 shot with a throw of 12.92 while Tariq Hewey ran 11.13 in placing second in the heats of the under-20 100 metres.

That qualified Hewey for the semi-final but he was unable to compete because of an injury.

Janine Scott placed sixth in the under-17 400 metres semi-final with a time of 61 seconds.

Yesterday's second day results were not available as competition went on until late into evening. The Games wrap up with more events tonight. The Bermuda team return home tomorrow.