Swim meets show off local talent
Participants in the 2015 Lions Sprint Meet
(CNS): Last weekend’s Vigoro Nursery’s Friday Night Lights, a distance meet for athletes aged 11 and over; and the Lions Sprint event, open to all ages, marked another successful turn for competitive swimming in the Cayman Islands.
Swimmers from Stingray Swim Club (SSC), Camana Bay Aquatic Club (CBAC), Treasure Island Swim School and Cayman Brac’s Brac Barracudas, as well as visiting swimmers from New York-based Sachem Swim Club and the University of Alabama all took part.
The Friday Night Lights meet recognised the female and male swimmer who won the FINA High Points award for the single performance which earns the athlete the highest points; the closer to the current world-record time, the more FINA points the event scores. Swimmers recognised at the event were Lauren Hew (CBAC) in the 400 free in a time of 4:40.47 (584 points) and Jonathan Key (SSC) in the 800 free in a time of 9:25.78 (481 points).
Friday Nights Lights High Points winners with their trophies
Stingray head coach David Pursely was encouraged by the Lions event. “The Lions Sprint Meet was filled with some huge swims from some of our younger athletes,” he said.
“Several of the clubs had young swimmers who were competing in a swim meet for the first time including Bianca Reid, Camerin Porter, James Banks and Malcolm Hill. This bodes well for the future of swimming in Cayman because even as our older swimmers get faster and older, and then move on to college, we have to nurture the developing skills of our entry level groups, as they are the future of Cayman swimming.”
As is the annual tradition, members of the Lions Club assisted with timing and cheering, and Lions president Rayle Roberts presented trophies to the High Points winners.
The next swimming event is the first Landon Von Kanel Memorial Invitational from 4-7 June, presented by Coldwell Banker Cayman and the Von Kanel family, followed by the Flowers One Mile Sea Swim on 13 June.
