The Bahamas Carifta Track and Field team to the 35th edition of the games in Guadeloupe over the weekend reaped 30 medals (nine gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze), good enough for a second place finish.
The Bahamas 64-member team headed by Coach George Cleare improved on last year's fourth place finish.
The championships climaxed on Monday with Jamaica taking the top spot for the 22nd consecutive year with 68 medals including 39 gold, 21 silver and 8 bronze medals.
Trinidad and Tobago was third with 33 medals including eight gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze. Barbados was fourth with 19 medals including four gold, eight silver and seven bronze.
On the final day of competition and with hundreds of Bahamian in the stands providing energy and Junkanoo music the locals got their biggest medal haul with 13 on Monday.
Among the medalists on the final day was Grand Bahamas' Nivea Smith. After winning the bronze in the 100 metres Smith won the gold in the Under-17 Girls 200m in 23.66 seconds.
She held off a strong challenge from Jamaica's Carrie Russell who was second in the 100 final. Carrie finished the 200 in 23.87, and Trinidad and Tobago's Cadajah Spenser ran a close 23.91 for the bronze.
After finishing third in the 100m, Karlton Rolle also took gold in the Under-17 Boys 200m in 21.33. He was good enough to hold off the Jamaica standouts Ramone McKenzie and Darrion Brent who finished in 21.56 and 21.58 seconds respectively.
However, one of The Bahamas' most successful events was the Under-20 Girls 200m that saw Jordan Prince Williams' Sheniqua Ferguson win the gold in 23.44 seconds and her Bahamas Speed Dynamics teammate Cache' Armbrister, a student at SAC, place third in 23.98.
Jamaica's Junior Champion Anastacia Leroy who finished in 23.54 seconds for the silver medal, split the pair.
Tracy Morrison won the Under-20 Girls Javelin by more than two metres over her competitors with a best throw of 47.52 metres, and Raymond Higgs won his second medal of the games with a leap of 6.88 metres in the Under-17 Boys Long Jump.
In the final event, the 4×400 Relays the Under-17 Boys and Girls won silver and bronze respectively. The Under-17 Girls ran 3:49.14 and the Boys crossed the line in 3:19.80.
The Under-20 Girls 4×400 Relay Team took the bronze in 3:46.30 and the Under-20 Boys Team of Demetrius Pinder, Juan Lewis, Carl Thompson and Jamison Strachan ran a blistering relay for second in 3:08.56 crossing the line less than five metres behind Jamaica who set a new games record in 3:07.75. Trinidad and Tobago was third in 3:08.99.
The next major event for Junior Track and Field athletes will be the North And Central American and Caribbean Under-23 Championships in July, and the Junior Central American And Caribbean Championships in Trinidad also in July.
By: Gerrino Saunders, The Bahama Journal
