Much of the aquatics world will descend on the United Arab Emirates capital city of Abu Dhabi December 16th to 21st for the 15th FINA Short Course World Championships, and the Caribbean nation of the Cayman Islands has named their delegation. Leading the four person squad will be Cayman’s new technical director, Jacky Pellerin and coach Darren Mew.
The country’s men’s contingent will be 15 year old James Allison and current college junior Liam Henry. Allison currently attends Cayman Islands Prep and High School in George Town on the southwest side of Grand Cayman and will compete in the 100 and 200 free in Abu Dhabi. Allison is the current Cayman 13-14 Age Group SCM record holder in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 free as well as the 50 and 100 fly.
Henry is currently a junior at St. Thomas University, an NAIA school in Miami, Florida and he will be competing in the 50 and 100 fly at the World Championships. Before joining St. Thomas this season, he swam for junior college powerhouse Indian River. At last year’s NJCAA Championships Henry finished 1st in the 50 fly in 21.98, 2nd in the 100 fly in 48.82, 5th in the 200 fly in 1:52.84 and 6th in the 100 free in 46.15.
Lauren Hew and Alison Jackson will also be making the trip to the U.A.E as the Cayman’s women’s representatives. Hew is currently a senior at Florida State and will compete in the 50 free and 50 back in Abu Dhabi. Hew holds SCY lifetime bests of 23.04 in the 50 free, 50.78 in the 100 free, 1:50.61 in the 200 free and 55.29 in the 100 back while competing for the Seminoles.
Jackson is currently a sophomore on the University of Northern Colorado team where she is primarily a sprint freestyler. She holds SCY lifetimes bests of 23.63 in the 50 free, 51.49 in the 100 free and 1:53.55 in the 200 free. Jackson will be competing in the 100 free and 100 IM at the World Championships.
The Cayman Islands best-known swimmers are brothers Shaun and Brett Fraser who both medaled at the Pan American Games and swam collegiately at the University of Florida for Gregg Troy. Brett represented the country at this past summer’s Olympic Games and was joined by high schooler Jillian Crooks, both whom were not selected to the Abu Dhabi squad. To learn more about the Cayman Islands’ World Championships team, see their press release here.