Cayman swimmers bag medals in Barbados
CARIFTA 2015: Cayman Islands Girls 11-12 age group 400m freestyle relay team wins Gold
(CNS): The 2015 Cayman Islands CARIFTA 21-member swimming team has already scooped up a number of medals at the Games taking place in Barbados, including gold in the Girls 11-12 age group 400m freestyle relay team, comprising Alison Jackson, Zororo Mutomba, Ria Plunkett and Holly Stradling, with a record-breaking time of 4-minutes, 17.71 seconds. In that age group Jackson also won gold in the 100m freestyle, as well as silver in both the 50m breaststroke and 100m backstroke, and Stradling also claimed a bronze in the 200m freestyle.
Eddie Weber won gold in the Boys 13-14 year group 1,500m freestyle, and Lauren Hew took silver in the Girls 15-17 age 50m backstroke.
Ella Plunkett took bronze in the Girls 13-14 age group 200m individual medley. The Boys 15-17 year group 4 x 200 relay team, comprising Jonathan Key, Cole Morgan, Iain McCallum and Rory Barrett, bagged a bronze.
The swimmers set off for Barbados last week under the leadership of Head Coach Bailey Weathers and Assistant Coaches David Pursley and Caleb Miller.
Before they left the Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association (CIASA) President Michael Lockwood wished the team the best of luck.
“There will be a ‘Cayman Contingent’ in the stands cheering them on, and we know that everyone at home will also be cheering them on. I have to thank our sponsors, the Cayman Islands Government, Maples, DART and Davenport Development. Without their continuing support it simply would not be possible for us to send 21 young swimmers to Barbados, swimmers who will proudly represent Cayman as they step up on the blocks and compete this weekend,” he said.
In addition to the 21 swimmers representing the Cayman Islands at CARIFTA, Camana Bay Aquatic Club’s Laura Shaw will be swimming for The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), accompanied by TCI Head Coach – also from Camana Bay – David Bott.
Coach Bailey is also Team Manager and Chilian Wong-Ellison is the Assistant Team Manager. Every year the swimmers elect a male and female Team Captain. This year the captains are Camana Bay Aquatic Club’s Lauren Hew and Stingray Swim Club’s Jonathan Key.