As it was on the first two days of the 2018 Dean Martin Memorial meet in Kingston Jamaica so it was on the final day Sunday October 28 where Jillian Crooks of Camana Bay Aquatics continued the constant assault on the Cayman Islands 11-12 age group records.

In her first event of the day she raised the bar for her age group in the 100 metre butterfly. The 11-12 meet record stood to Jamaican standout Zaneta Alvaranga at 1:08.85 in 2017 which was also the fastest time by a female swimmer at the meet, Jillian’s 11-12 Cayman record was 1:06.87 from her CCCAN Gold medal performance in Aruba and the best ever 11-12 time in Jamaica was 1:05.98 by another wunderkind Bermuda’s Elan Daley in her Gold medal winning performance at CARIFTA 2018. Jillian would blast through all of those times to record a winning time of 1:04.54. Her opening split of 30.21 almost broke her 50 metre butterfly record of 30.08.Crooks has made considerable progress since her first regional meet of 2018 which was UANA where she recorded a time of 1:12.43.
100 butterfly | UANA | CCCAN | Dean Martin |
First 50 | 33.95 | 32.64 | 30.21 |
Second 50 | 38.48 | 36.67 | 34.33 |
Final Time | 1:12.43 | 1:09.31 | 1:04.54 |

Still in only her first year of the 11-12 age group she is already faster than the Cayman Islands 13-14 record held by Olympian Heather Roffey (Athen 2004) of 1:05.62 and is closing fast on the senior record of Lara Butler (Rio 2016) of 1:04.10. Her winning time at Dean Martin would have won her the Silver medal in the boys race at CARIFTA earlier in the year

100 butterfly | Crooks 2018 | Butler 2016 |
First 50 | 30.21 | 30.15 |
Second 50 | 34.33 | 33.95 |
Final Time | 1:04.54 | 1:04.10 |

She would not finish with her record breaking in the butterfly but also extended that to the 200 metre backstroke. Jillian would slice a few hundredths off her PB and national record of 2:33.98 to register a winning time of 2:33.91 . That now stands at the 11-12 record and fastest ever female time of the meet. The old 11-12 meet record was held by Kendese Nangle of the Blue Seals swim club from 2007 who posted a time of 2:42.95.

She would close out the meet with a meet record in the 50 metre freestyle record of 27.78 just eclipsing the 2016 meet record of 27.79 by CAC and Youth Olympics representative Emily MacDonald of Swimaz Aquatics. Crooks now dominates the LCM record board for the Cayman Islands in the 11-12 age group and has a chance to lower the CARIFTA and CCCAN records in those events in 2019.
Event | Crooks Cayman | CARIFTA | CCCAN | CCCAN best/Country |
50 metre freestyle | 27.25 | 26.59 | 27.46 | 26.59 Ber |
100 metre freestyle | 59.93 | 1:00.06 | 59.65 | 58.12 Ber |
200 metre freestyle | 2:15.17 | 2:10.26 | 2:10.24 | 2:08.16 Ber |
50 metre backstroke | 32.11 | 31.52 | 30.78 | 30.78 Tri |
100 metre backstroke | 1:08.40 | 1:08.69 | 1:07.14 | 1:06.65 Tri |
200 metre backstroke | 2:33.91 | 2:29.11 | 2:26.35 | 2:25.91 Mex |
100 metre breaststroke | 1:23.60 | 1:14.60 | 1:14.39 | 1:13.33 Tri |
50 metre butterfly | 30.08 | 28.87 | 28.74 | 28.74 Jam |
100 metre butterfly | 1:04.54 | 1:05.98 | 1:05.55 | 1:04.46 Ber |
200 metre IM | 2:34.88 | 2:27.95 | 2:27.38 | 2:25.21 Ber |
Continuing his own meet record smashing streak was Zarek Wilson of the Blue Dolphins Swim club of Trinidad and Tobago. He recorded the fastest ever time at the meet of 4:30.45 while destroying the 11-12 record of Sean -Douglas Gooden of 4:51.45.In his final event of the competition he clocked 26.20 just missing the 2017 record of 26.16 set by Nathaniel Thomas of the Tornadoes swim club.

In one of the most exciting races of the day in the 13-14 age group in the 100 metre butterfly which saw the 2018 CARIFTA Silver medallist Zaneta Alvaranga of the Kaizen Swim Club in a head to head battle with the 2018 CCCAN Gold medallist and national record holder Sabrina Lyn of the Tornadoes. It would be Alvaranga’s fast opening 50 metres that proved to be the difference as she held off a late charge from Lyn. They would finish in times of 1:05.24 and 1:05.56 well under the 2008 record of 1:10.86. Also finishing under the record was P’aige Lewis of the Y Speedos who recorded a time of 1:10.57.

Alvaranga would return to close out her individual races with an emphatic win in the 50 metre freestyle in a time of 27.23 . That shattered the 2016 meet record of 28.38 by 2018 Commonwealth Games competitor Alison Jackson of the Stingrays Swim Club of the Cayman Islands.The performance will also stand as the fastest ever female time at the meet.

Also in record standard setting mode was Thomas of the Tornadoes Swim Club in the 13-14 age category. In the 100 metre butterfly he set a new personal best time of 1:00.54 to take the win and break the meet record of 1:01.80. He would top the 13-14 field in the 50 metre freestyle with a time of 25.12 ,just under the old record of 25.16 in yet another personal best.He will be targeting the 2004 national record of 24.47 set by another Tornadoes swimmer Brad Hamilton.

In the 15-16 category Jordan Crooks of Camana Bay Aquatics produced the meet’s first ever sub minute swim in the 100 metre butterfly when he touched the pads in 59.83.In the 15 and over category of the 50 metre freestyle he held off two members of Jamaica’s national record setting 15-17 200 metre freestyle team at CARIFTA Jordan Hines of the Tornadoes Swim Club and Kyle Sinclair of the Y Speedos to be the fastest sprinter in the history of the meet. He cut through the water to touch in 24.60. Hines was a touch back in 24.61 and Sinclair ,the final sub 25 seconds swimmer with a 24.80. Both Jordans won their respective 15-16 and 17-18 age groups.
The Y Speedos Swim club retained their crown with 845 points followed by the Tornadoes Swim club with 745 and the Marlins swim club third with 256 points.