SPORTS
Shaune Fraser: Six golds and counting
Jennifer Powell set a new personal best time in the
50 metres Butterfly.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
After some excellent performances in the build-up to the FINA World
Swimming Championships, held at the end of last month in Canada, and even
better performances at the event, one would expect Shaune Fraser to be ready
for a break. However, it seems that his appetite for winning is quite
insatiable.
Swimming as a member of the Cayman Islands National Swimming Team in the
Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships (CCCAN), Fraser has
already taken six gold medals, setting six personal bests along the way, and
breaking six Cayman Islands National Records. He has also taken a bronze
medal, and set two competition records.
CCCAN is contested among 28 countries from the region, with swimmers
participating in age groups.
Event Pl Time Comments*
100m Freestyle 1 51.00 PB/CI NR/CCCAN R
200m Freestyle 1 1:52.97 CCCAN R
50m Butterfly 3 25.77 PB/CI NR
100m Butterfly 1 56.03 PB/CI NR
200m Butterfly 1 2:01.58 PB/CI
NR/CCCAN R
200m Backstroke 1 2:05.99 PB/CI NR
200m Ind. Medley1 2:05.14 PB/CI NR
(* PB = Personal Best, CI NR = Cayman Islands National Record, CCCAN R =
Competition Record)
It’s not just the fact he’s winning races, it’s the fact he is doing so in
spectacular fashion. In the 200M Butterfly, Shaune smashed the former 8
year-old record by 1.11 seconds, and the 16 year-old CCCAN (1989) 100M record
by 0.21 seconds. In the 200M Backstroke, Shaune actually finished one second
ahead of the rest of the field. In all but one event, Shaune’s winning times
in the 15-17 Years age group have been faster than the 18+ age group.
Adding to his legacy is the fact Shaune has had to swim two events
literally back-to-back in morning preliminaries and finals for three days
straight. It has even gotten to the point where some of his competitors have
begun scratching out of one of the two events in order to give it all against
Shaune in one event. Come one, come all, that strategy doesn’t seem to be
paying off.
National Head Coach Dominic Ross commented, “Shaune was definitely ready
for this meet and swimming much faster than he did at the Montreal World
Championships last week. His 200M Fly time will place him into the Top 100
Performers of 2005, which is an incredible feat for a 17 year-old. He seems to
feed off the opportunity to compete against many of his Caribbean friends. At
the same time, there were many of the Central American coaches that felt their
swimmers could beat Shaune, so it was pretty easy for him to be motivated to
perform. It’s great for our other members of our Senior National Team to be at
this meet with Shaune and for them to feed off of Shaune’s success.”
The other members of the team are also setting new personal best times at
the event. Jennifer Powell established a new personal best (PB) in the 50m
Butterfly, and is hoping to do the same in the 50m Freestyle. Both Joel
Rombough and Peter Stasiuk have registered impressive PB’s across the board,
with Brigitte Tomascik also setting a PB in the 50m Freestyle. Jodie Foster
and Brigitte Tomascik look to their specialist event, the 400m Freestyle, for
a strong showing.
The Cayman Islands National Senior Swim Team is sponsored by Walkers,
Cayman Airways and Cable & Wireless.
Event Time Comments
Jodie Foster
200m Backstroke 2:39.65
100m Butterfly 1:12.88
100m Freestyle 1:07.99
800m Freestyle 9:59.56 6th Place
100m Backstroke 1:19.11
Jennifer Powell
50m Butterfly 32.76 PB (-0.31 sec)
50m Backstroke 38.45
100m Freestyle 1:03.95
200m Freestyle 2:22.64
Joel Rombough
50m Breaststroke 33.93 PB (-3.2sec)
200m Breaststroke 2:39.25 PB (-6 sec.) / 4th Overall
200m Ind. Medley 2:24.99 PB (-13.97sec)
100m Butterfly 1:07.18 PB (-7.08sec)
400m Ind. Medley 5:14.28 PB (-9.33 sec)
Peter Stasiuk
50m Breaststroke 36.13 PB (-3.2sec)
200m Breaststroke 2:50.60 PB (-6.5 sec)
200m Backstroke 2:48.50 PB (-4.0 sec)
200m Ind. Medley 2:44.79 PB (-3.83sec)
200m Freestyle 2:23.85
1500m Freestyle 19:41.50 PB (-8.29sec)
400m Ind. Medley 5:47.98 PB (-3.66 sec)
Brigitte Tomascik
200m Backstroke 2:44.44
100m Freestyle 1:05.80
200m Freestyle 2:19.27
800m Freestyle 10:03.95 8th Place
100m Backstroke 1:17.38
50m Freestyle 30.03 PB (-0.63 sec)
.Back...
| 
