Cayman athletes shine at CARIFTA Championship

(CMR) Cayman Islands won 28 medals at the CARIFTA Swimming Championship in Barbados over the first two days of the games, mining 13 Gold, 12 Silver, and 3 Bronze.

The track and field athletes in Jamaica also waved Cayman's flag high, winning four medals at the end of the second day.

On Sunday, the second night of the 35th Carifta Swimming Championships in Barbados, the duo of Kyra Rabess and Jillian Crooks showcased their talent separating from the field in the 200m Freestyle.

Rabess touched the wall less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Crooks in front of an excited, cowbell ringing, horn-blowing crowd.

In the boys' 200m Freestyle immediately following, James Allison won Silver as he challenged Nikoli Blackman, of Trinidad and Tobago, to the finish.

A night after dominating the 50m Backstroke, the trio of Luke and Lila Higgo, along with Jillian Crooks, duplicated the feat again in the 100m Backstroke.

Lila again broke a Carifta record, breaking a 5-year-old record. Teammate Lev Fahy joined Luke on the medal stand with a strong swim to win bronze, and Jillian again led wire to wire in her gold medal performance.

Cayman swimmers Coco McGrath, Teagan Nash, Dominic Hilton, and Harper Barrowman put forth fantastic swims to earn silver medals in their respective age groups in the individual medleys. Kassandra Adapa and Will Sellars also put great effort into the challenging event.

The Cayman girls relay teams made it look as easy as 1,2,3 to cap off the session in the 4x100m Medley. The 13–14-year-old quartet of Lila Higgo, Brianna Fischetti, Sierrah Broadbelt, and Sofia Bonati held off strong challenges to win Gold. Harper Barrowman’s charging finish gave the 15-17-year-old Cayman team (w. Kaitlyn Sullivan, Rabess, and Crooks) the silver medal.

First-time Carifta participants Riley Watson and Eva Oldfield teamed with Adapa and McGrath to secure Bronze in the 11-12-year-old division.

The track and field athletes also shine on the second day of the CARIFTA games in Jamaica.

After securing gold in the U17 long jump on Saturday, Andrew Stone put on a great performance in the U17 Boys High Jump Sunday, securing the second spot on the Podium in Jamaica, clearing the height of 2 m.

Team Cayman's 4 X 100m athletes (U20 and U17) also made it to the podium at the CARIFTA Games in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday, winning bronze.