– XXIII Goodwill Swim Meet
By Michelangelo Jacobus
A vastly improved Guyanese swim team placed third when the curtain came down on the 23rd edition of the Goodwill Swim Meet at the National Aquatic Center on Sunday. The locals amassed 58 medals and finished on 868.5 points.
Trinidad and Tobago successfully retained their title while holding off a challenge from perennial nemesis Suriname who placed second. .
Suriname as they staved off a strong challenge from longtime rivals for the title Suriname.
The twin island republic finished with an impressive 1322 points while Suriname tallied 1289 points. The Bahamas was fourth with 805 points. Barbados with 445, St Lucia 314.5 and Grenada with 20 points placed fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Guyana’s medal haul was made up of 21 golds, 18 silver and 19 bronze. The host nation was buoyed by outstanding performances from 12-year-old Leon Seaton and 10-year-old Aleka Persaud who dominated their events in their respective age categories.
Seaton captured 8 gold medals and broke four meet records as he refurbished the 100m Freestyle record at 58.19s, 50m Freestyle- 26.18s, 50m Butterfly- 29.20s and the 50m Backstroke record at 31.72s.
Persaud bagged 8 gold and 2 silver medals as she also broke a record of her own setting the 50m Butterfly record at 31.41s.
Seaton in an interview with the media attributed his success to hard work in training as he pushed himself to the limit. The` Little Master’ also revealed that he often raced against the older swimmers.
Lian Winter was another Guyanese swimmer to bag gold. Winter also set a new record in the Girls 11-12 50m Backstroke winning in 33.70s.
This year’s performance from the “Land of Many Waters” has shown marked improvement. The hosts more than doubled last year’s medal tally which was 15, including three gold medals while they finished sixth, out of six countries then.
Listed Below is a list of Seaton and Persaud’s medals in their various events:
Leon Seaton
100m Freestyle- Gold
100m Backstroke- Gold
200m Medley- Gold
50m Freestyle- Gold
50m Butterfly- Gold
200m Freestyle- Gold
50m Backstroke- Gold
100m Butterfly- Gold
Aleka Persaud
100m Freestyle- Gold
50m Breaststroke- Silver
100m Backstroke- Silver
100m Medley- Gold
50m Freestyle- Gold
100m Breaststroke- Gold
50m Butterfly- Gold
200m Freestyle- Gold
50m Backstroke- Gold
100m Butterfly- Gold