By Kathy Jackson From Stingray Swim Club

Stingray Swim Club, Grand Cayman: The Pete Ribbins Consolidated Water Meet, hosted by the Stingray Swim Club (SSC) of Grand Cayman at the Lions Aquatic Centre (LAC) was a 2015 CARIFTA Swimming qualifying meet for members of the National Junior Swim Team. In addition to Stingray swimmers, Camana Bay Aquatic Club, Team TI, Brac Baraccudas, Cayman Islands Special Olympics and a number of swim schools also took part.

Taking place over four days, January 29th – February 1st, the meet had two night sessions, and four day sessions. Thursday night saw some exciting competition in the long distance 800m and 1500m Freestyle events and on Friday night swimmers had the opportunity to take part in a number of the middle distance events – 200m and 400m – which do not feature in shorter sprint meets.

Stingray swimmers Sam Bailey, Jordan Crooks, Alison Jackson, Cole Morgan, Ella Plunkett, and Ria Plunkett turned in a number of CARIFTA qualifying swims; however, the CARIFTA Swimming 2015 team selection does not take place until after the CIASA Nationals, February 19th – February 21st, so hopefuls will have to wait a little longer to see if they will be selected.

Stingray’s Coaching Team of David Pursley and Tim Leonhart – who are still both quite new to the Cayman swimming scene enjoyed the meet, and Coach David had this to say about the swimming:

“It is always fun to see the competitive spirit come out in competition. It is not the same environment that we have every day in practice and the unique response we saw from individual swimmers can help us as coaches find the best in each swimmer. We saw some tremendous team spirit this past weekend which made for an exciting and fun four days. There will be plenty to take away from the Pete Ribbins meet that will help us prepare for CIASA Nationals in the coming weeks.”

Meet Director Brenda McGrath extended her thanks to the many volunteers who made the meet possible, “Each session requires over 30 volunteers to officiate, time and run concessions – we could not produce these meets, allowing our swimmers to gain experience and swim official times without our volunteers and we are extremely thankful to all of them for coming out and working, and we thank the parents who came out to cheer on the swimmers too.”

High Points Awards were won by – Girls: 6&Under Emily Plamer (TI); 7-8 Gabriella Royston (SSC); 9-10 Stephanie Royston (SSC); 11-12 Beth Walton (CBAC); Ella Plunkett (SSC) and 15&Over, Lauren Hew (CBAC). Boys: 6&Under, Phinn Ellison (CBAC) and Dominic Gunn (TI); 7-8 Connor Macdonald (CBAC); 9-10 Finn Bishop (CBAC); 11-12 Jordan Crooks (SSC); 13-14 Eddie Weber (CBAC) and 15&Over Cole Morgan (SSC).

“The Pete Ribbins Memorial Consolidated Water Meet was a resounding success by all accounts,” said SSC President Amanda Roberts. “The meet ran very smoothly. We are grateful to Consolidated Water who have continued their long term sponsorship of this swim meet in Pete Ribbins’ name. Pete was an athlete himself and he knew first had how much discipline and commitment it takes to succeed in sports – he would be very proud to see so many children taking part in this meet and displaying such good sportsmanship.”

IMAGE: SSC