Cayman’s top junior swimmers turned out by the hundreds for the Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association National Championships, held over the weekend.
The athletes from five clubs, including Cayman Brac competed over four days at the Camana Bay Sports Complex pool.
Many of the swimmers notched CARIFTA qualifying standards, records, and personal best times over the course of the competitive meet.
Jacky Pellerin, technical director of CIASA, told the Compass he was shocked at how well the swimmers performed at nationals.
“There have been big improvements for a lot of the younger ones, so I am pretty satisfied with this year’s nationals,” Pellerin said. “The performances are surprisingly good, especially in the age groups of 11 and 12.”
The qualifying standards for CARIFTA this year was a stretch for some swimmers. However, Pellerin confirmed that, prior to nationals, 21 athletes had already hit the mark in their respective events.
“The qualifying times are much harder than last year,” Pellerin said, noting that despite the extra difficulty, swimmers delivered over the weekend.
“More qualifying swimmers are coming after nationals,” he added. According to CIASA Facebook, the official CARIFTA team will be announced on 19 Feb.
Open water nationals
A week prior, the National Open Water 5K Championships was held along Governors Beach, where 24 distance swimmers hit the waters.
Dominic Hilton finished first with a time of 1:03:06 – just a second ahead of Connor Macdonald, who finished at 1:03:07. In third was Will Sellars, clocking 1:03:18.
Coming in at first for the women was Riley Watson, with a time of 1:12:13. Teagan Nash took the silver after stopping the clock at 1:12:16, followed by Maria Westin in 1:15:59.
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