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2022 CENTRAL AMERICAN/CARIBBEAN FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: MARIA MATA COCCO, MEXICO
Maria Mata Cocco became the first female swimmer from Mexico to earn a second swim at the World Aquatics Championships in more than a decade this past summer in Budapest, earning her the Central American/Caribbean Female Swimmer of the Year award for 2022.
Mata Cocco, 28, lowered her own Mexican National Record in the prelims of the women’s 200 butterfly at the World Championships in Budapest, clocking a time of 2:09.32 to down her previous mark of 2:09.46 set earlier in the year.
That performance ranked Mata Cocco ninth overall, earning her a lane in the semi-finals, where she ultimately placed 11th in 2:09.78. Prior to her effort, no Mexican female swimmer had advanced out of the heats at Worlds dating back to at least 2011.
Mata Cocco also placed 17th in the women’s 100 fly in Budapest, establishing a personal best time of 59.58 to near the Mexican Record of 59.31 set by Miriam Guevara in 2018.
At Mexico’s qualification meet for the World Championships in April, Mata Cocco’s time of 2:09.46 in the 200 fly broke her previous national record of 2:09.57 set at the Monaco stop of the 2021 Mare Nostrum circuit.
She was once again Mexico’s top performer on the Mare Nostrum circuit this year, including placing ninth in the 200 fly in Barcelona and eighth in the event in Canet, and she also raced at the U.S. Open earlier this month in Greensboro, N.C., making the final of the 200 fly and placing fifth.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- Melissa Rodriguez, Mexico – The lone female swimmer to represent Mexico at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Rodriguez raced four events at the 2022 World Championships, highlighted by an 18th-place finish in the women’s 200 breaststroke (2:28.19). Rodriguez holds the Mexican Record at 2:25.54, set in 2019.
- Harper Barrowman, Cayman Islands – Barrowman became the first female swimmer from the Cayman Islands to qualify for a final at the Commonwealth Games this past August in Birmingham, England, doing so in the women’s 800 freestyle. The 16-year-old placed eighth in the heats before finishing in the same position with a time of 9:13.97 in the final.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
- 2021 — Joanna Evans, Bahamas
- 2020 — Alia Atkinson, Jamaica
- 2019 –Alia Atkinson, Jamaica
- 2018 – Alia Atkinson, Jamaica
- 2017 – Lili Ibanez, Mexico
- 2016 – Alia Atkinson, Jamaica
- 2015 – Alia Atkinson, Jamaica
- 2014 – Alia Atkinson, Jamaica