The Cayman National Sprint Meet, hosted by the Stingray Swim Club of Grand Cayman at the Lions Aquatic Centre and traditionally the first meet of the New Year, took place on 14 January.
Ninety-four swimmers took part in the day’s events and with the stands full of family, supporters and well-wishers the day was a resounding success. “It is always amazing to me,” said Cayman National’s Brian Esau, who watched the races and presented trophies.
“When the youngest age groups – the Under-6s are swimming, the courage it must take to stand at the end of the pool looking down the longest 25 metres of their life … and they just dive in and swim. It is impressive. Swimming is a sport which the youngest competitors can excel in – and given that is takes place in the water it is perhaps one of the most sensible sports to take part in, in the Cayman Islands.”
Sprint meets focus on the short distances – 25m races for the U6s and U8s and 50m races for the other age groups. With all of the scheduled races taking place between 9am and 12.30pm the event is short in length and fast in excitement – and there were a number of well deserving swimmers who were recognised with High Points Awards.
Boys: U6 Liam Chisholm (CBAC); U8 Corey Westerborg (SSC); U10 Jordan Crooks (CBAC); U12 Rory Barrett (CBAC); U14 Iain McCallum (SSC) and 15 and Over O Wunyae Crawford (SSC).
In the girls division High Points winners were: U6 Marisa Poole; U8 Sabine Ellison (UNN); U10 Zororo Mutomba (CBAC); U12 Stefanie Boothe (SSC); U14 Lauren Williams (SSC) and 15 and Over Danielle Boothe (CBAC).
Notable by their absence from the pool at the meet were a number of Stingray Swim Club’s senior swimmers who were in Florida at the 2012 Jaked Senior Invitational Swim Meet at Nova Southeastern University Aquatic Centre in Plantation.
With a cold front passing through Florida the swimmers had to contend with far colder weather than they are used to, but, despite the cold the swimmers, who were accompanied by coach Dominic Ross has a great experience and returned home enthused.
Stingray President, Brenda McGrath was delighted with the turn out. “It really was a wonderful morning,” she said. “It was unfortunate that we experienced some glitches with the electronic timing system; however, people triumphed over technology and the great swimming, fantastic music and wonderful volunteers all worked together to make it a great day for everyone.”
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