Swim team beats the frost

(CNS): The 26th Annual Youth Cup Swim Meet took place last weekend in Toronto, Canada, bringing together over 1000 of Canada’s best young swimmers. A 15 member team left Grand Cayman on Wednesday, 3 December, to take them on and gained some valuable experience in the build up to CARIFTA 2009, while at the same time putting in some stellar performances and each setting at least one personal best time.

According to a release from Coach Dominic Ross, the group, comprised of Joshua Bain, Danielle Boothe, Lara Butler, Geoffrey Butler, Christopher Courtis, Matthew Courtis, Abi Drummond, Summer Flowers, Tori Flowers, Seiji Groome, Alex McCallum, Jackson Messer, Amber Myrie, Coral Tomascik and Elliot Vernon, battled the sub zero temperatures and stiff competition to finish amongst the top 5 in the small team category, which featured teams with under 20 swimmers.

Danielle Boothe led the way, collecting medals in the 11-12 age group, including gold in the 50-metre butterfly race and two silvers (200 IM and 200 Breast), while Jackson Messer and Geoffrey Butler also collected team points in that age group on the boys side with numerous top
sixteen placings. Coral and Elliot also competed well producing personal best times in most of their events.

In the 13-14 age group, Lara Butler picked up some points for the team with a strong 800 free on the first day of the competition, as did Chris and Matthew Courtis in the equivalent boys event. They would all go on to improve upon their best times for a vast majority of their events as the meet continued on. The other 13-14 swimmers, Abi, Josh, Tori, Alex and Amber, also had strong meets as they continued with their CARIFTA preparations.

Seiji Groome, swimming at the young end of his 15-17 age group advanced to the final of the 200 Breast, eventually finishing up 7th overall in a strong field. His other events, while not placing as
high, were equally successful as he continued to improve upon his best times. Summer Flowers was the lone 15-17 girl on the team and had a much improved 1500 free on day one of the competition, which she followed up with a number of other strong swims through the following
three days.

Danielle re-wrote the Stingray Swim Club Record book, breaking 7 records over the course of the weekend in the 11-12 age group. (50f ree, 50 back, 100 back, 50 breast, 200 breast, 50 fly, 200 IM)

Geoffrey smashed his own 11-12 800 free record by 22 seconds in his last meet as a 12 year old.

This Friday, the Department of Sports will host the annual and ever popular Primary Schools Championships at the Lions Pool, scheduled start time is 9am and all are welcome to come along and support.

Next up on the swimming calendar after that is a fun event for all ages and abilities of swimmers, the KPMG Back to the Water meet scheduled for Saturday, 17 January, starting at 9:00 am.

Also, keep your eyes out for and lend your support to some exciting fundraisers planned for the New Year!