Cayman swimmers get over 100 personal bests

(Stingray Swim Club):Stingray Swim Club travelled to Jamaica last weekend to compete in the FINA sanctioned Walter Rodgers Age Group Swimming Championships. The team of 15 Stingray swimmers was joined by two members from Camana Bay Aquatic Club and along with Coach Paul Swaby-Ebanks, Team Manager Mr Derrick Westerborg and a number of parents the young swimmers represented Cayman Swimming admirably both on deck, in the pool and in the stands. With competition taking place form Thursday -Sunday Stingray swimmers swam a combined 111 personal best times, with each swimmer contributing a minimum of four to that total.

Individual and team accolades are many, with some of the highlights including:

-Four swimmers added their names to those under consideration for the 2012 Cayman Islands CARIFTA Team by attaining the relevant consideration times: Cole Morgan (100 Backstroke, 1:14.30 "A"), Alice Narborough (50 Free, 31.56 "A"), Jonathan Key (50 Free, 34.02 "BB") and Kyle Fraser (50 Free, 28.79 "A").
-Two Stingray records fell by the wayside, both to Corey Westerborg in the Boys U8 age group who broke his own 50 free record with a 39.30 and also broke the 200IM records set in 2003 by Alex McCallum, lowering it by an astounding 25-1/2 seconds to 3:52.96.
-Stefanie Boothe swam her first "A" time and Jayde Solomon compiled 5 "BB" time standards as well as a third place finish in the 200 back.
-Iain Macrae continued his steady climb to the top, dropping time in four of his events and posting four top 8 finishes and Ella Plunkett had an astounding 8 personal best times and led off the girls 11-12 bronze medal winning medley relay team with a solid backstroke leg.
-Andrew Smilley, the veteran of the team, added seven personal bests to the team total as well as seven top eight points scoring finishes.

There were also a number of swimmers who were swimming overseas and in a 50M pool for the first time: Wunyae Crawford, Liam Henry, Alex Dakers, Sarah Jackson and Lauren Williams all competed hard, tookon new events, earned points for the team with top 8 finishes and achieved official BB times.

Camana Bay Aquatic Club also had two swimmers at the meet; swimming veteran Danielle Boothe and, on the other end of the spectrum, Rory Barrett, who competed in a 50M pool for the first time. Danielle set two meet records in 50M Breast and 400 IM and finished solidly in all her events. Rory achieved top 8 finishes in the 100M Breast, 50M Freestyle and 100M Freestyle events, and was only half a second away from achieving an “A” time in the 50M Freestyle. Rory also added his name to the list of CARIFTA hopefuls by reaching the necessary consideration times.

“The Camana Bay Aquatic Club is very proud of Danielle and Rory’s achievements in Jamaica,” said Camana Bay Aquatic Club President, Jeffrey Wight. “Danielle’s hard work this season has paid off with fantastic results at the meet and we wish her the very best as she represents Jamaica at the CARIFTA Games. Rory rose to the occasion and performed extremely well for his first time at a long course meet. Weare very grateful to the Stingray Swim Club for their support of our swimmers in Jamaica.”

With the 2012 CARIFTA Games taking place in the Bahamas from April 12-15th, Cayman’s younger swimmers are training hard, focusing on achieving FINA approved qualifying times at the Pete Ribbins Memorial Swim Meet which starts on February 29th – hosted at the Lions Aquatic Centre by Stingray Swim Club.

“We could not be prouder of all our swimmers,”said Stingray President Brenda McGrath who was at the airport to meet the returning team. “They swam hard, had fun and represented the very best of Cayman Swimming while they were in Jamaica. It was great to have swimmers from Camana Bay Aquatic Club there too and we are hopeful that as both clubs become more settled that there will be other opportunities for us to travel together, representing not just our clubs but most importantly the Cayman Islands in the international arena.”

For more information on Stingray Swim Club and on the upcoming swim meet visit www.caymanswimming.com .

About Stingray Swim Club: The Stingray Swim Club, a non profit club, run by an elected Board of Directors. Stingray Swim Club is a year round competitive swim team offering high quality professional coaching and technique instruction for all ages and abilities.