Tennessee Sprint Relay Title a Diverse Moment That Transcends Swimming
As Lamar Taylor touched the wall, the Tennessee sprinters fell into each other’s arms in jubilation.
The Volunteers had just claimed the 200-yard freestyle relay NCAA title, their first relay title since 1996, but more importantly, this was a relay that transcended the sport.
Jordan Crooks, Guilherme Caribe, Nikoli Blackman and Taylor are different from any other NCAA relay in the history of the sport.
Four swimmers of color from four different countries who came together to put the fastest sprint relay in history together (which they did at SECs) then claiming an NCAA championship.
“It goes to show that just because you are not from a country with a lot of resources or swimming history – anybody can make it work,” Crooks said. “We couldn’t be more different, and we made it work – and we fought for it.”
Crooks, who won the 50 freestyle earlier in the night, is from the Cayman Islands. Caribe is from Brazil, while Blackman is from Trinidad and Tobago and Taylor is from the Bahamas.
The three island nations are not swimming powerhouses by any means, making the story all the more intriguing.
“We (three) came from small countries in the Caribbean. It shows for the kids back home that anything is possible,” Blackman said.
“We are really close friends and it shows how well we train together,” Taylor said.
It also shows that swimming is everywhere. It doesn’t need a country with a long history of excellence to produce its own excellence.
And in the U.S., this is another generation of college students proving that fast swimmers come in all shapes, sizes, colors and from all countries.
“We have been looking forward to this the whole year,” Caribe said.
The NCAA Championships often bring out the best from countries around the world who have come together on U.S. soil on the same team.
There are many issues with the NCAA and college sports, but this is not one of them. It is one of the most beautiful things about college swimming and on Thursday night in Federal Way, that beauty transcended the sport like never before.
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