SWIMMING: Caymanian Ali Jackson set new 200-yard freestyle PB, best in WAC meet

Ali Jackson set new 200-yard freestyle PB, school and Caymanian best of 1:49.42 in breakout Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The ladies of the Cayman Islands are claiming this year as their own with standout performances and Cayman best swims. One young lady that is apart of the wave of success from the 345 is Ali Jackson.

Lifespan 007 open water swim through their official Facebook account shared the update on the match and extended greetings to Ali Jackson.

According to Lifespan, the junior from the University of Northern Colorado had one of her best collegiate meets at the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Texas that ran from Feb 22-25.

In the 200 yard freestyle she started the season with PB of 1:52.26. She crushed that in the heats to make her first ever Championship final with a time of 1:49.89 (split time 53.71). . In the final she found another gear and recorded a new PB, School record and Cayman Islands best of 1:49.42 (split time 53.09).She was mere .04 outside of the medals to place fourth.

She bettered the 2022 record held by Bermudan star Madelyn Moore of 1:49.72. She also eclipsed the mark of fellow countrywoman Olympian Jillian Crooks who had set the Cayman best mark of 1:49.49 in 2022. Crooks had set the mark in a victory for TS Aquatics at the Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships.Ali is now the second fastest CARIFTA region swimmer in the event for the season.

The combined top four ladies from the Cayman Islands which include Kyra Rabess 1:51.77 and Ali’s older sister Sarah Jackson 1:52.95 would have a combined time of 7:23.63 that would have placed eighth at this year’s NCAA Division II Champs.

In the 100-yard freestyle, she won the Bronze in a new PB of 49.47 (split time 23.53). Her old record was 49.76. She has steadily progressed at the meet with previous finishes of 17th in 2021, 9th in 2022. Alison continues to get closer to another Moore standard of 49.10.

The 50 yard freestyle saw her holding her hand up in the big moments. In 2021 she was 9th in PB of 23.63. That was improved to 5th in 2022 in 23.31. This year she moved on to the medal podium when Jackson got the Bronze in yet another PB of 23.10.

She will have a chance to lower them at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships which starts today.