“With five club records falling, a multitude of PBs and top 10 positions, the Meet was a great experience for Stingray’s swimmers pitting them against some of Florida’s finest Junior Swimmers.”

Stingray Swim Club, Grand Cayman, 27 May 2012: Fourteen Stingray Swim Club members travelled to Sarasota to compete in the Sarasota YMCA Sharks Kent B. Holdren Swim Meet May 18-20th 2012 and brought home a trophy, medals, ribbons, new club records and a multitude of PBs. The Sharks is a Championships Award winning swim club with strong competitive age group swimming and a Senior programme which produces Olympians; the Stingray swimmers, some of whom were swimming in a 50m pool for the first time, competed hard and were incredible ambassadors for both Stingray Swim Club and Cayman Swimming.

“Stingray Swim Club is extremely proud of all our swimmers achievements at the SYS Sharks Memorial Meet in Sarasota,” commented Stingray President Brenda McGrath. “Of particular note are Iain Macrae who won a Silver Medal in the Boys U12 200m Breaststroke in a time of 3:57.84; and Corey Westerborg who won four Silver Medals in the Boys U8 50m Freestyle, 37:25; 50m Backstroke, 47:45; 50m Butterfly, 47:66 and 50m Breaststroke, 54:62.”

There were also five new, Stingray Swim Club LC Records set, all in the U8 Age Group. Corey Westerborg broke Sean Brodericks record for 200m Freestyle of 4:00.59, set in 2004 with a new time of 3:28.62; Jonathon DeBruyne’s 1998 50m Backstroke record was broken with Corey’s new time of 47:45 and Corey lowered his own 50m Freestyle record of 39:30 set in Jamaica in February 2012 to 37:25.

The most exciting new record which Corey set on this trip however was in the 50m Butterfly.

This record was set in 1998, with a time of 49:50 and was held by now Cayman Islands Olympic swimmer, and lifetime Stingray Swim Club member Brett Fraser – the new record is 47:66!

The fifth SSC LC Record that was broken was in the U8 Girls by 6 year old Marisa Poole. Marisa broke Jellian Major’s 2003 record of 2:27.09 in the 100m Breaststroke with a new record time of 2:26.10.

And rounding out the accolades is the U8 Boys High Points, second place finish by Corey who brought home a beautiful new trophy for his bookcase.

Swimmers competing in the 50m pool for the first time were Alison Jackson, Jake Bailey and Krishna Adapa who all rose to the occasion like the seasoned swimmers they are becoming. Alison Jackson, swimming in the Girls U10 Age Group missed the SSC 50m Backstroke LC Record by just 0.27 of a second and is determined to ‘take it’ next chance she gets; while Jake Bailey pulled in phenomenal PBs in his events and Krishna Adapa, who only started swimming competitively in February of this year showed what hard work and determination can do when you stand on the blocks.

Team Manager Derrick Westerborg was delighted with the team’s success and commended both the swimmers and the Coaches: “This meet was a great experience for our swimmers and our parents. It was a large meet, with some of the events requiring 8 or 9 heats … and with an 8 lane pool that translates to some 72 swimmers in an event. We had both Junior and Senior swimmers at the meet and they all showed personal responsibility and accountability in their approach to their participation. We had 64 PBs overall from 14 swimmers who swam 91 events … a great accomplishment. The Sarasota Sharks are good hosts – this is a competitive but fun meet and we look forward to going back again next year. SSC is grateful to Coaches Marie and Charlotte who were able to step in and accompany the team on this meet. They were on deck for 11 hour days on

Saturday and Sunday but found time to give each swimmer one-on-one time prior to their races and a constructive post event overview each time.

The full team which travelled, representing Stingray Swim Club was: Marisa Poole, Corey Westerborg, Alison Jackson, Jake Bailey, Krishna Adapa, Liam Henry, Jonathan Anderson, Sarah Jackson, Samantha Bailey, Iain Macrae, Alex Dakers, Wunyae Crawford, Lauren Williams and Andrew Smiley.

“I am extremely grateful to Derrick Westerborg for his role as tour manager,” concluded President Brenda. “The swimmers always enjoy his trips and they have lots of fun. A big special thanks as well to Co-Manager Albert Anderson; Coach Marie and Coach Charlotte of AAP Coaching who accompanied the team and spent 3 full days pacing the swim deck. SSC is extremely grateful to all involved and looks forward to the next overseas Meet in July.”

For more information on Stingray Swim Club visit our website www.caymanswimming.com

*In swimming, competition generally takes place over either a long course / LC (50 m pool) or a short

course / SC (25 m pool). The United States also employs short course yards (25 yard pool). Times do not perfectly translate from a SC event to a LC event as the use of the wall, and the benefit of the turn is more frequent in a SC competition so many clubs have both SC and LC records.

Photo Credit: Stingray Swim Club – SSC