Cayman’s young swimmers were in top form over the weekend, including Olympian Shaune Fraser.
With all of the hoopla surrounding CARIFTA, Fraser quietly went about gaining many accolades for Cayman abroad.
Fraser was competing at the NCAA Mens Swimming Championships in Federal Way, Washington, swimming for the University of Florida Gators.
He swam in the individual 200 Yard Freestyle and individual 200 Yard Butterfly(they still compete in imperical distances). Fraser finished fifth in both events.
The big news of the meet was Fraser’s times. His morning preliminary swim time of 1:33.15 in the 200 free placed him as the seventh fastest performer in the history of the event. The swim was also the second fastest ever at the University of Florida.
In addition, his fifth place finish in the 200 fly matched his personal best, when he swam as a freshman at the 2007 NCAA Championships.
Jim Fraser, Shaune’s father, said Shaune was proud of his accomplishment.
‘He is very pleased with his results, especially in the 200 yard event. He was very focused on that event as he might swim the 200m in the Beijing Olympics.’
It’s worth noting that the American collegiate system measures swims in yards. Meters are normally used for international swim competitions.
The NCAA championships served as a tune up for Fraser. He will compete in a Grand Prix swim meet in Ohio this weekend. He will then compete in another meet in California towards the summer.
Jim Fraser went on to say the meet shows his son is continuing to raise the bar for Cayman swimmers.
‘As you get faster, you have to improve less. To train over a year and have a second improvement is phenomenal. Many pro swimmers are happy with a fraction of a second.
‘The main thing for Shaune is he is improving his times. He can only worry about his time and not about whoever he’s swimming against [in Beijing].’
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