From photo finishes to records tumbling to future stars hitting the CARIFTA qualifying mark, the 2025 Cayman Islands Swimming National Championships were nothing if not entertaining.
A combined five Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association and national records were broken throughout the four-day meet, held at the Camana Bay Sports Complex pool from 7-10 March.
Jacky Pellerin, CIASA technical director, told the Compass that the national competition and the CARIFTA Championships go hand-in-hand when it comes to the next generation of swimmers.
“It’s a stepping stone for us,” Pellerin said. “We are six weeks [out from] CARIFTA and it’s good to see [who] will be our team for CARIFTA. This is the proceedings for the last qualifications for CARIFTA.”
This year’s nationals featured six clubs (Seven Mile Swimmers, Stingray Swim Club, Camana Bay Aquatic Club, John Gray Swim Club, Cayman Aqualife Academy and Brac Barracudas) competing against each other for bragging rights.
Stingray’s Riley Watson was one of those athletes gaining accolades for her team. The Compass caught up with Watson shortly after she shaved nine seconds off from her previous best time in the 400-metre freestyle.
“It was nice. I loved it. The 400 free is one of my top events,” she said.
Watson, a bronze medallist at last year’s CARIFTA, said she isn’t feeling too much pressure heading into this year’s edition, noting that it’s all fun at the end of the day, but she still has high expectations of herself.
“I’m at the bottom of my age group now. I just moved up to 15-17, but I hope to medal in a couple of my events, like [in] the 200 backstroke.”
When it comes to CARIFTA, all the Cayman club athletes will unite for a common cause against their regional counterparts – a task that will prove tough this year, according to Pellerin.
“We lost quite a lot of our older ones,” he said, noting that due to the ageing out of key players, team Cayman will drop points, having finished second overall in the both the 2023 and 2024 championships.
“I hope the best for my team, of course, but I don’t think we will finish in the top three [this year]. That will be really difficult for us,” he added.
Pellerin confirmed that 35 swimmers will represent Cayman at the CARIFTA Championships next month in Trinidad and Tobago.
