Ben Smith, the Bermuda swimming coach, has hailed the island’s triumphant team after they achieved “the best possible” performance at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Trinidad & Tobago.

Bermuda clinched a fourth-place finish in the medals table, capturing a total of 38 medals — 12 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze — as well as winning the under 11 and 12 girls category.

“It was an amazing performance,” said Smith, whose squad returned to the island last night. “Obviously we hoped we would perform well and they did what we thought they could do.

“If you had written your best possible outcome before the event — well, that’s what they did. You can only hope that happens as it doesn’t normally work out that way did, but it did.”

Smith described the competition, held at the brand-new National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Trinidad, as a higher level than the Carifta Championships and said he could not have been prouder of the team’s display.

“It was the first time we have been to Trinidad since the early Nineties,” Smith added. “The team came together really well and obviously going into a new environment you never know what to expect.

“There are a lot more countries and depth to this competition [compared to Carifta] and you can only hope you will perform at the level you want.

“Once they started to swim fast and see what they could do, it just steamrollered.”

Elan Daley, Payton Zelkin and Sam Williamson emerged as the stars of the show, having amassed 26 individual medals between them.

Daley, who broke the meet record in the 11-12 girls 100 metres freestyle final, with a time of 59.65 sec, had four golds as part of her ten-medal haul. Zelkin won nine medals, including two gold, and Williamson seven, with four gold.

Additionally, Daley and Zelkin each came away with three relay medals, including gold in the 400 metres freestyle and medley relays, while Williamson was part of the team that captured silver in the mixed 200 metres freestyle relay.

“Obviously you can highlight some of the individual performances but we were just happy with the amount of personal-best times,” Smith said. “We won the 11 and 12 girls category for the competition, which is a big feat coming from a small country like Bermuda.

“To see the quality in multiple events just tells us what we’re capable of.”

Puerto Rico topped the medal table with 21 golds out of their overall total of 52 medals. Trinidad & Tobago were second with 16 golds and 50 medals, with Guatemala third on 11 golds and 21 medals.

In the points table, the host nation emerged a narrow seven points ahead of Puerto Rico on 695, with Costa Rica third on 477. Bermuda were sixth with 284 points.

• For the full medals table, points table and finals results, click on the PDF links under “Related Media”