Youth sports in Cayman Islands has for decades been excelling way above expectations for such a small island, and judging by the brilliance of its swimmers as well as athletes in other sports, world class performers will continue to bring glory and prestige.
Last week at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad, Cayman not only broke the threshold of never winning a medal but the squad came home with two gold medals, a silver and three bronzes.
This week there was more sporting excellence when the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Culture & Heritage congratulated Jordan Crooks for being selected as the 2023 @cayconnect #MakingWavesAwards Sports recipient.
Swimmer Crooks has been making huge waves and recently qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games by winning the 50-metre freestyle heat at the World Aquatics Championships in 21.90 seconds and 47.77 secs in the 100m to break a 14-year-old national record.
At the Commonwealth Youth Games on the first day James Allison won Cayman’s first ever medal at the tournament with silver in the 200m freestyle.
Jillian Crooks, Jordan’s sister, also won medalled on the first day with bronze in her 100m backstroke in a personal best time and national record of 1 minute 02.10 seconds. Crooks, also competed in the 50m fly, where she finished seventh in 27.67 seconds.
“Being able to step onto the pool deck with Cayman Islands on all my gear means a lot,” Crooks said. Allison and Crooks were among 11 athletes representing Cayman at Trinbago 2023.
The rest of the team comprised of five other swimmers: Sierrah Broadbelt, who set a national 13-14 record in the 50m butterfly, Harper Barrowman, Teagan Nash, Connor Macdonald and Allysson Belfonte; sisters Anija and Briana Delapenha in beach volleyball; and Andrew Stone and Ty Goddard in track and field.
Stone took gold with his 7.70m long jump, an amazing leap for a teenager.
Finally, Cayman featured three swimmers in the long-course finals of the Commonwealth Youth Games. They were Harper Barrowman and Teagan Nash in the women’s 800m freestyle and Sierrah Broadbelt in the women’s 200m butterfly. Broadbelt completed her swim in 2:23.45. Harper and Teagan set personal bests in their events.
Harper won bronze in a time of 9 minutes 11.72 seconds, shaving eight seconds off her best time.
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