From Stingray Swim Club

Courtis Brothers rush the podium at CISC       

July 9, 2014

After Catriona MacRae nabbed gold in the 10k event at the Caribbean Island Swimming Championship in Barbados, it was time for the pool events where the brothers Courtis each brought home 4 medals (three individual and one relay).

Fresh off his first year at Oxford University, Matthew Courtis dropped in impressive swims in the 400 IM and 400 freestyle, capturing the silver medal in both. His best swim of the meet came in his specialty though, the 200 butterfly, where Courtis swam a 2:10 and brought home the gold medal. Courtis also joined his brother Chris on the men’s 4×200 free relay for Barbados, which took 3rd overall.

Chris also made his way onto the medals stand during this, his tuneup before Commonwealth Games. Chris took Bronze in both the 50 and 100 back while capturing silver in the 200 back.

Chris is off to Loughborough University for a long course training camp ahead of the Games while Matthew returns home this coming Monday to prepare for Southern Zone Champs where he will (unofficially) represent the Cayman Islands for the first time!

Silver Swimmers Go Wild in St. Pete’s  

July 6, 2014

Led by standout swims from the Silver Group, Stingray’s pack of 17 raced to loads of lifetime bests, top 5 finishes and records. Out the gates quickly were Sophie Hayman, Corey Westerborg, Danielle Seales and little John Fleming on Friday evening, all recording giant PB’s in the 200 IM or Open 50 events. Seales dropped over 3 seconds in her 50 freestyle to clock a 36.5 while John Fleming bested his short course PB by over 5 seconds.

Westerborg cleaned up on his own times all weekend, with particularly sharp swims in the 50 butterfly where he dropped 2 seconds, clocking in at 36.9 and in the 100 freestyle where he chopped off over 6 seconds, also beating his best short course time in a time of 1:12.4. The 100 free being a new Stingray, National and CIASA record.

Hayman dominated many of her heats with blazing fast swims in the 50 free (34.9) and the 200 free (2:53.4) and finished 4th overall in the 100m backstroke, where she too beat her best short course time.

Big sister Katie also beat up on many of her short course times in her first ever LCM meet, looking especially strong in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events.

Congratulations as well goes to Krishna Adapa and Danielle Seales who both finished with 100% personal bests over the weekend.

A fantastic and fun way to finish the season SKY swimmers! One more big meet in Florida and it’s on to next year! See you all back in Cayman!

Golden Girl MacRae Leads Globetrotting SKY Swimmers    

July 1, 2014

BARBADOS

Catriona MacRae and Katie Klein reprsented the Cayman Islands this past weekend at the CISC Open Water Swimming Championship in both the 5k and 10k events. MacRae finished 4th overall in the 5k while Klein came close behind in 6th place.

Catriona shone brightest though in the 10k event where she finished 2nd overall and captured the gold medal for the 14-17 age group. Pool competition for both girls begins later this week where they will be joined by Matthew and Chris Courtis who will be representing Barbados.

SCOTLAND

Alex Dakers completed his first Scottish National Age Group Championship with a 100% PB strike rate at the pool in Aberdeen. Dakers swam the 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and raced especially well in the 200 breaststroke, chopping off 7 seconds for a time of 2:56.57. Dakers came 19th overall in the event.

SARASOTA, FL

Nine swimmers headed north over the weekend for the 2014 Shark Open in Sarasota to compete in heats and finals. Little John Bodden led Stingray massive PB’s in every event, most notably clocking a 10 second PB in the 100 butterfly at 1:04.33. John narrowly missed qualifying for Southern Zones by .04 in the event. Ali Jackson also swam well, finishing first overall in the 50 backstroke and 2nd in the 50 breaststroke while Sam Bailey, Ella Plunkett, Sarah Jackson and Cole Morgan also all hit finals.

For more information on or to volunteer at the Stingray Swim Club visit www.caymanswiming.com

PHOTOS: SSC