In the sweltering heat of the midday summer sun, Cayman’s men’s beach volleyball team took to the courts of Puerto de Oro, in Barranquilla Columbia for their first match on Saturday, July 28th.

Cayman’s Nathan Dack and Casey Santamaria were able to quickly find their rhythm and establish an early lead in the first set, which they maintained to the end with a final score of 21-13, in their favor. During the second set, the men returned with the same level of intensity and won the game 21-12 to claim the match against the US Virgin Islands. Unfortunately, the men were not able to maintain the moment and did not advance out of Pool E. During the second and third matches, Dack and Santamaria would go on to fall to Mexico 3-21 and 9-21, then again to Curacao 17-21 and 14-21.

Cayman’s women’s first match was a slightly more pleasant. Playing under a starlight sky, Ileann Powery and Marissa Harrison went up against the Dominican Republic. Powery and Harrison lost their first set 16-21 but managed to turn the tables on their opponents and won the second set 21-16. Cayman’s women would go on to lose the third set by two points, ending the game 13-15. Powery and Harrison then faced the host, Columbia on Sunday. The women fell 11-21 and 13-21 and therefore did not advance out of the Pool A. Both teams will go onto play for their overall final placings, today Monday, July 30, 2018.

On the track at Pista Alteica, Cayman’s Rasheem Brown settled in the blocks for the Men’s 100m sprint. Running in Heat 1 out of lane three, Brown finished 8th with a time of 10.89 seconds. 18-year-old Brown did not advance to the Semi-Finals. Next on the track was Jeahvon Jackson in the Men’s 400m hurdles. Running in Heat 2 out of lane eight, Jackson finished 8th with a time of 56.60 seconds and did not advance to the finals. Brown competes later today in the Men’s 110m Hurdles.

Athletes still to compete are Lacee Barnes and Alex Pascal. Barnes will compete in the Women’s Shotput event on Wednesday, August 1st, and then on Thursday Pascal participates in the men’s Javelin throw. The games culminate on Friday, August 3rd.