Impressive finishes at Island Heritage sprint meet

(Stingray Swim Club): The February 2-3rd Island Heritage Sprint Plus swim attracted over 150 swimmers from Stingray Swim Club (SSC), Camana Bay Aquatic Club (CBAC) and Team TI (TI) and was characterized by PBs, CARIFTA times achieved or lowered and events swam for the first time. The Sprint Plus, still a relatively new format in Cayman, allows swimmers to compete in the usual 25m (U6 and U8 swimmers) and 50m Sprint events as well as the longer 100m and 200m sprints or middle distance events as well. Stingray Swim Club’s Head Coach, Andy Copley was encouraged by the meets results – especially those of some of the club’s younger swimmers.

“The hard work our swimmers are putting in at the pool is starting to translate in to strong results for them in swim meets,” he said. “12 swimmers recorded a 100% PB strike rate and a number of our swimmes had some really great swims: Allyson Belfonte, 1st overall in the 25 freestyle (18.19); Sophie Hayman first in the 50 freestyle with a 2 second drop (36.61); Olivia Plunkett, had a 6 second drop in the 50 breaststroke (51.82); John Bodden dropped 9 seconds in the 200 freestyle (2:20.75); Alex Dakers had a massive 17 second drop in the 100 backstroke and Alison Jackson, earned new CARIFTA cuts in the 100 freestyle (1:06.73) and the 200IM (2:48.18).”

Latina Young, Island Heritage’s Marketing & Communications Coordinator attended the event and was impressed with the number of athletes taking part, the organization of the officials and the fast swimming taking place in the pool. “Island Heritage recognizes the importance of investing in the training and development of our young athletes. By supporting these swim meets, we are giving these swimmers the opportunity to achieve their aspirations of being Gold medalists,” she said. “Watching these young athletes swim and, understanding how much they have to train every week, is impressive. It represents the level of commitment and dedication that we want to continue to encourage in our young people.”

For the second year in a row, Island Heritage’s High Points awards were unique Stingrays purchased locally from Pure Art.

High Points winners were: Girls 6 & Under Sofia Bonati (CBAC); 7-8 Allyson Belfonte (SSC); 9-10 Sabine Ellison (CBAC); 11-12 Alison Jackson (SSC); 13-14 Lauren Hew (CBAC); 15 & Over Danielle Boothe (CBAC). Boys 6 & Under Cian Anderson (CBAC); 7-8 Stefano Bonati (CBAC); 9-10 Corey Westerborg (SSC); 11-12 Zachary Moore (CBAC); 13-14 Rory Barrett (CBAC) and 15 & Over Iain McCallum (SSC).

SSC President Amanda Roberts noted that the meet was successful both from a swimming and an officiating perspective. “There was a full complement of CIASA certified technical officials on deck judging the competition together with several of the newly certified CIASA timers. Having such a well-staffed meet also gave the opportunity for novice timers and technical officials to train for their certification or be assessed to move up a level.”

Swim officials are all volunteers who put in a significant number of hours in the classroom and on deck to officiate thereby enabling the swimmers to have their qualifying times and records formally recognised at home and overseas. It also helps the swimmers focus on the rules for each stroke and correct their mistakes prior to heading out for an international competition.

“On behalf of Stingray Swim Club I want to say a big thank you to all the CIASA officials and other volunteers, and of course, to our sponsor, Island Heritage.”

Stingray Swim Club members will next see action in the CIASA National Championships, February 20-23rd at the Camana Bay Aquatic Centre pool; and then the Walter Rogers Age Group National Championships in Kingston, Jamaica at the National Stadium pool. This is a long course event and will see some swimmers competing in a 50m pool for the first time, while others will be hoping to either obtain or drop CARIFTA qualifying times … for CARIFTA 2014 which takes place in Aruba, April 22-26th.

For more information on Stingray Swim Club visit www.caymanswiming.com .