Brother Jordan Crooks, 20, and sister Jillian Crooks, 16, have been selected to represent the Cayman Islands at the 19th FINA World Championships set in Budapest between June 18th – 25th. The Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association (CIASA) made the announcement of their selection
The Cayman Islands are an archipelago located in the Caribbean northwest of Jamaica. The nation’s small population of 60,000 yields a small swimming community of only 3 teams.
Older brother Jordan Crooks, 20, has just finished his first year competing for the University of Tennessee as the fastest freshman in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles in NCAA history. He set school records with times of 18.53 in the 50 and 41.16 in the 100. Jordan’s time in the 50 dethroned Caeleb Dressel as the fastest freshman in NCAA history. At the 2021 UANA Tokyo Qualifier, Jordan achieved a qualifying “B” time in the 100-meter free at 50.25. Though, only a few months back at the 2021 CIASA National Championships, Jordan achieved a personal best in the 100 with a time of 49.47.
Jillian, only 16 years of age, already has Olympic experience under her belt. She finished 41st in the 100 free in 57.32 in Tokyo last summer, representing the country alongside Brett Fraser. Following the Olympics, Jillian competed for Homer High School in Alaska for a short while in the fall. She now is being home-schooled in Florida and swimming for TS (Total Swimmer) Aquatics. In April at the 2022 CARIFTA Championships, Jillian broke 4 Cayman records in the 50 free, 50 back, 200 back, and 100 fly. She now owns 6 individual national records, with the other two in the 100 free and 50 fly, and is part of 4 of the women’s relay records.
CIASA Technical Director Jacky Pellerin will be accompanying the two swimmers as head coach. He has shared his optimism and high hopes for Jordan’s and Jillian’s swimming performances coming up in a few weeks. He believes that the Budapest swimming pool will “allow [the Cayman] swimmers to compete in the best conditions,” and thereby contribute to fast results.
At the last edition of the World Championships in 2019, 4 Cayman athletes – Jordan Crooks, Brett Fraser, Raya Embury-Brown, and Lauren Hew – raced in the heats. There has yet to be a Cayman finalist at the World Aquatics Championships. The best performances on a global stage came from brothers Shaune and Brett Fraser, who are both Olympic semifinalists. Shaune qualified for the semifinals in the 100 free at the 2012 London Games, while Brett qualified in the 100 and 200 free in London as well.
Cayman finished 3rd in team scoring behind Bahamas and Jamaica at the 2022 CARIFTA Swimming Championships, a major regional competition for Caribbean nations. The country still has the Commonwealth Games remaining later this year as well.