The medals for team Cayman Islands continued to roll in on day three of the 2023 CARIFTA Swimming Championships, with a handful of medals coming from Harper Barrowman.
The 16-year-old daughter of Olympian Mike Barrowman hit the pool at the Sentro Deportivo Korsou centre in Curaçao on Saturday, 8 April, for the 1,500-metre freestyle finals.
Barrowman took gold in the 15-17 1500m in 17:50.69.
After the race, she embraced fellow competitors in the lanes next to her, including Cayman’s Riley Watson, who took bronze in the 13-14 age group for that event.
But that wasn’t all. When it was time to present the medals, Barrowman requested to have second and third place step up to the top spot of the podium.
When asked by the Compass why she did that, she responded, “That’s not an easy race; in my eyes, we are all winners,” noting that swimming is about helping those behind to not get discouraged.
Cayman swimmers, Sierrah Broadbelt and Lila Higgo, were up next. After dominating in the 400m individual medley yesterday, the pair returned to their respective age groups to win gold again, this time in the 200m IM.
Broadbelt went on to claim gold in the 200m butterfly and Higgo took silver in the 50m breaststroke in a new personal best time of 32.98 seconds. It was the first time since 2019 that Higgo competed in a 50m breast event.
Cassidy Coles won bronze in the 11–12 200m fly final, while Teagan Nash nabbed gold ahead of teammate Allyson Belfonte, who took bronze in the 15-17 race.
Jillian Crooks continued to capture CARIFTA records on day three. This time, she took gold during the 100m free, in a new meet record of 56.44.
For boys 15-17, James Allison brought home silver.
The honourable Barrowman returned for the 800m free relay, joined by teammates Sofia Bonati, Higgo and Nash. The girls dominated in their gold winning effort.
The boys closed the show with Allison, joined by Connor Macdonald, Dominic Hilton and Will Sellars, all helping to win bronze.
Related Videos
The 1500 m freestyle is a grueling event. What great sportsmanship and hope for the future generation.
What a marvelous performance from our team. Surely they should now be rewarded with a 50 meter pool, detailed plans have already been submitted to Govt which make use of the site of the Lions 25 meter pool.. Compare these results with our track and field team who have a state of the art stadium with the latest faclities including a newly laid running track. Perhaps the Compass can publish the medals tables for both events which should make interesting reading.