Jillian Crooks

Jillian Crooks
Personal information
Birth nameJillian Janis Geohagan Crooks
National teamCayman Islands Cayman Islands[4]
Born (2006-06-27) 27 June 2006 (age 18)[4]
Cayman Islands
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly, freestyle
ClubTotal Swimmer Aquatics[1]
Homer Mariners (former)[2]
CoachGrant Fergusson[3]
Caleb Miller[2]
Medal record
Island Games
Silver medal – second place 2019 Gibraltar Mixed 4 × 50 m freestyle

Jillian Janis Geohagan Crooks (born 27 June 2006) is a Caymanian competitive swimmer. She is the Cayman Islands record holder in the 50 metre butterfly and 100 metre freestyle.[4] She competed in the 100 metre freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics, placing 41st in the prelims heats.[4][5]

Background

Following a brief residence in the United States state of Alaska in late 2021, she moved to Florida in 2022, where she trains for her swimming with Total Swimmer Aquatics, and she represents the Cayman Islands in international swimming competitions.[1] She has an older brother, Jordan Crooks, who is also a competitive swimmer.[6]

In 2022, Crooks committed to competing collegiately for the University of Tennessee swim team, the Tennessee Volunteers, starting in the autumn of 2024.[7]

Career

2021

2020 Summer Olympics

See also: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan, Crooks took 41st place in the 100 metre freestyle, not advancing to the semifinals with her Cayman Islands national record setting time of 57.32 seconds.[4][5][8] She was the youngest competitor from the Cayman Islands at the 2020 Summer Olympics in any sport, as well as the youngest Olympian from the country across all previous editions of the modern Olympic Games her country competed at.[3][9] Prior to the start of competition, Crooks served as one of two swimmers turned flag bearers for the Cayman Islands at the opening ceremony Parade of Nations, which made her one of 86 swimmers to carry the flag for their nation.[10] Leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games, she was one of a number of swimmers to set the Cayman Islands records at the Cayman Islands qualifying meet for the Olympic Games held in Clermont, United States.[11]

Competing in Alaska

Crooks was born and raised in the Cayman Islands. Following the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021, she temporarily moved to the state of Alaska in the United States when she was just 15 years old to compete scholastically for Homer High School for one season.[9] She moved to Homer, Alaska for a few months, including competing for the high school swim team, because she had a family friend who was a coach there and wanted to test out swimming in the United States, and Alaska specifically, to see if she could win a few state tiles and set a few state records in the country, which she successfully did.[12] She won two state titles and set state records in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle events. She was one of two Olympians to compete at the 2021 Alaska State High School Championship, the other being Alaska-born-and-raised Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby who won breaststroke and individual medley events.[9][13] Later in the month, she competed at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, placing tenth in the 100 metre backstroke, eleventh in the 50 metre freestyle, twelfth in the 100 metre freestyle, thirteenth in the 200 metre freestyle, and eighteenth in the 200 metre individual medley.[14]

2022

At her first senior World Aquatics Championships, Crooks placed twenty-ninth in the 100 metre freestyle with a time of 57.24 seconds on day five of swimming competition at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, held in June at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary.[15] Two days later, she competed in the 50 metre freestyle for the first time at a World Championships, placing forty-first with a time of 26.75 seconds.[16] Six months later, as a 16-year-old at the 2022 World Short Course Championships in December in Melbourne, Australia, she placed twenty-fourth in the 50 metre butterfly with a Cayman Islands record time of 26.40 seconds.[17][6] The following day, she placed twenty-sixth in the 100 metre freestyle with a Cayman Islands record time of 54.20 seconds, which was 2.16 seconds behind first-ranked preliminaries swimmer Siobhán Haughey of Hong Kong.[18][19]

International championships (50 m)

Meet 50 freestyle 100 freestyle 200 freestyle 100 backstroke 200 medley
Junior level
PANJ 2021 11th 12th 13th 10th 18th (h)
Senior level
OG 2020 41st
WC 2022 41st 29th

International championships (25 m)

Meet 100 freestyle 50 butterfly
WC 2022 26th 24th

Personal best times

Long course metres (50 m pool)

As of 11 June 2023
Event Time Meet Location Date Age Notes
50 m freestyle 25.87 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series - Mission Viejo Mission Viejo, United States 20 May 2023 16 NR
100 m freestyle 56.30 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series - Mission Viejo Mission Viejo, United States 18 May 2023 16 NR
200 m freestyle 2:03.67 2022 Futures Championships Cary, United States 27 July 2022 16 NR
50 m butterfly 27.53 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series - Mission Viejo Mission Viejo, United States 19 May 2023 16 NR
100 m butterfly 1:02.41 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series - Mission Viejo Mission Viejo, United States 20 May 2023 16 NR, h
Legend: NR – Cayman Islands record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

Short course metres (25 m pool)

As of 3 January 2023
Event Time Meet Location Date Age Notes
100 m freestyle 54.20 h 2022 World Short Course Championships Melbourne, Australia 14 December 2022 16 NR
50 m butterfly 26.40 h 2022 World Short Course Championships Melbourne, Australia 13 December 2022 16 NR
Legend: NR – Cayman Islands record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

References

  1. ^ a b Theodoulou, Noelle (2 June 2022). "Siblings Jordan And Jillian Crooks Will Rep Cayman Islands At 2022 World Champs". SwimSwam. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b Helminiak, Jeff (7 November 2021). "Pair of Olympics lead peninsula swimmers to state". Peninsula Clarion. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Jillian Crooks to become Cayman's youngest Olympian". Cay 03 Sports. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Jillian Janis Geohagan Crooks: Results". FINA. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Swimming - CROOKS Jillian". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b Seaford Russell Jr (13 December 2022). "Crooks siblings setting records on world stage". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  7. ^ Brandes, Chandler (25 September 2022). "Cayman Islands National Record Holder Jillian Crooks Verbally Commits to Tennessee For 2024". Swimming World. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Crooks clocks new 100m free national record in Olympic heat". Cay 03 Sports. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Rodenberger, Jordan (9 November 2021). "Athlete of the Week: Jillian Crooks — How the Cayman Islands' youngest ever Olympian made waves in Homer, Alaska". Alaska's News Source. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  10. ^ Miller, Nicole (23 July 2021). "Over 80 Swimmers Carry Flags In Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremonies (Full List)". SwimSwam. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  11. ^ Russell, Seaford Jr (7 May 2021). "National records broken during UANA Olympic Qualifier". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  12. ^ De George, Matthew (10 November 2021). "Lydia Jacoby Wins Two Titles, Goes 59.66 in 100 Breast at Alaskan State Champs". Swimming World. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  13. ^ Reed, Josh (7 November 2021). "At Alaska's state high school swim meet, excitement for 2 Olympians competing on a different stage". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Jillian Crooks" (in Spanish). Panam Sports. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  15. ^ FINA (22 June 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Women's 100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  16. ^ FINA (24 June 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Women's 50m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  17. ^ FINA (13 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 50m Butterfly Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  18. ^ FINA (14 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  19. ^ Seaford Russell Jr (20 December 2022). "Jillian Crooks back home after record-breaking World Championships". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flag bearer for  Cayman Islands
Tokyo 2020
with
Brett Fraser 		Succeeded by