Swimmer Jillian Crooks set a new meet record in the preliminary round of the 100-metre butterfly during the first day of this year’s CARIFTA competition, with an official time of 1:01:76. The 17-year-old edged out the longstanding record set by Jamaican swimmer Sabrina Lyn.
She later won gold in the final with a time of 1:00:22, closely followed by teammate Sierrah Broadbelt, who took silver with a time of 1:04:08.
Crooks and her teammates in Nassau, the Bahamas, didn’t stop there.
Cayman’s swimmers have taken home a dozen medals so far, while the track-and-field team has won at least two.
The Cayman Islands swim team is in contention for overall team score at the end of day one, totalling 160 points. It only trails the Bahamas, which this year enjoys homefield advantage of CARIFTA Aquatics being hosted in Nassau at the Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Center. The Bahamas has 56 athletes compared to Cayman’s 44.
Last year, Crooks took the title of fastest female swimmer in CARIFTA history.
Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association President Steve Broadbelt said Crooks’ feat was impressive, especially considering it is a short race.
“Just shaving off a tenth of a second or a quarter of a second at that age and at that level is pretty hard to do,” he said.
President Broadbelt said he’s optimistic about Cayman’s performance this year and is glad so many athletes have been able to qualify.
The open water swim sessions are scheduled for Wednesday at Goodman’s Bay, Bahamas.
Grenada is also hosting the CARIFTA track and field competitions this weekend.
Ending on a high
At the end of a challenging day where several of Cayman’s top swimmers had competed in multiple categories, the athletes faced the 4×100-metre relays. They had enough competitors to fill out all three teams in the ages 11-12, 13-14 and 15-17 categories for both men and women.
Day One Medalists
- Riley Watson, Women’s 13-14 800-metre freestyle, bronze
- Harper Barrowman, Women’s 15-17 800-metre freestyle, gold
- Lennox Turnham-Wheatley, Men’s 13-14 1,500-metre freestyle, silver
- Will Sellars, Men’s 15-17 1,500-metre freestyle, silver
- Connor Macdonald, Men’s 15-17 1,500-metre freestyle, bronze
- Kaitlyn Sullivan, Women’s 15-17 200-metre breaststroke, bronze
- Dominic Hilton, Men’s 15-17 200-metre breaststroke, silver
- Luke Higgo, Men’s 13-14 50-metre backstroke, bronze
- Jillian Crooks, Women’s 15-17 100-metre butterfly, gold
- Sierrah Broadbelt, Women’s 15-17 100-metre butterfly, silver
- Men’s 11-12 400-metre freestyle relay, bronze
- Women’s 15-17 400-metre freestyle relay, gold
- Devonte Howell, Men’s U20 100-metre final sprint (track and field), gold
- Jaiden Reid, Men’s U20 100-metre final sprint (track and field), silver
The standout was the team consisting of Crooks, Sierrah Broadbelt, Sofia Bonati and Harper Barrowman that left commentators exclaiming, “This is insane”.
Crooks set the team up with a strong lead, despite the late-evening start due to technical difficulties with touchboards. Though the time didn’t quite break the previous record, they took gold with a time of 3:58:94.
It undoubtedly made a difference that three of the four teammates worked together last year.
The Men’s 11-12 relay team also medaled, taking third behind the Bahamas and Aruba. While the Men’s 15-17 relay team came out with a strong start from James Allison, mid-race jockeying put the team in a close 4th place.
A dozen in the bag
Closing out the first day, the Cayman Islands had garnered 12 medals in the pool: three gold, four silver, and five bronze.
Ahead of them are the Bahamas with 22, Trinidad and Tobago with 10, and Barbados with 11.
It is still anybody’s game, with three days of competition remaining in the pool.
Among the medalists is Lennox Turnham-Wheatley, 13, who took second in the Men’s 13-14 1,500-metre freestyle. He impressed audiences with a time of 17:46:26, shaving a full 30 seconds off his qualifying time.
Medaling in Grenada
More than two thousand kilometres from the pool, Cayman’s athletes were collecting medals at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium in St. George, Grenada.
Devonte Howell took gold in the Men’s U20 100-metre dash finals with his personal best time of 10.15 seconds, nearing the championship record set in 2007 by Yohan Blake of 10.11.
Close behind him was Jaiden Reid, who put up a time of 10.34 seconds.
Delora Johnson, 15, also placed 8th in the Women’s U17 high jump with 1.55 metres.
The Grenada games continue through Monday.
Future competitions
Unique this year, countries had the option to put up athletes over the age of 18 in the 50-metre backstroke and 100-metre butterfly. While these races would not count toward the overall team score, they would be officially counted as a qualifier for the Olympics.
The Cayman Islands did not enter any participants this year, but Broadbelt said it presents a great opportunity, especially for students attending university in the United States that need qualifying scores in metre races.
He said the team hopes to explore this option at future meets.
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