By Kiev Chesney

The Guyana Amateur Swimming Associa-tion (GASA) on Monday named 38 swimmers to represent Guyana at the 2008 Goodwill Champion-ships which will be held at Castellani Pool next month.
According to GASA Secretary Karen Pilgrim, the team was selected by its council which consists of GASA’s executive members and a representative from each of the affiliated clubs.
Pilgrim said that the athletes were selected based on their performances at the recently concluded GASA Goodwill trials and by the recommendations from the technical committee.
Pilgrim said that she was pleased that nine of the 38 swimmers were able to achieve the qualifying standards for the event.

The nine swimmers that have achieved the qualifying standards are Noelle Smith, Linden Wickham, Soroya Simmons, Aureyah Payne, Accalia Khan, Athena Gaskin, Stephen Soares, Alan Lowe and Serrano Gonsalves.

Karen Pilgrim

“Goodwill has evolved from the developmental meet that it used to be and the competition level is now extremely high,” said Pilgrim.
“The qualifying time for this event is very close to Carifta and that just goes to show the high standard expected from the competitors,” she added.
Pilgrim also said that apart from the nine swimmers who qualified, the team was made up of swimmers who have undoubtedly proven themselves as the top swimmers in their age groups.
The squad (Boys) Stephen King, Dylan Nurse, Daniel Scott, Dominic Skeete, Shane Baksh, Shamal Baksh, Nathanael King, Shaqueel Amin, Serrano Gonsalves, Dorian Gonsalves , Dorian Thompson, Travis  Henry, Omali Dare, Linden Wickham, Elroy Hinds, Joseph Seguina, Jamaal Henry, Alan Lowe, Sebastian de Freitas, Stephen Soares and Henk Lowe.

(Girls) Telena Smith, Accalia Khan, Sarah King, Marissa Melville, Jamila Sanmoogan, Sasha Hughes, Athena Gaskin, Soroya Simmons, Britany Van Lange, Noelle Smith, Steffi de Nobrega Anna Layne, Darcy Chambers, Kristyl Robinson, Ashley Layne, Tiffany Nedd and Siedha Dummett and Athena Foo as the lone reserve.
Sean Baksh has been confirmed as the head coach while Joanne Lowe and Christopher Mc Adam were named assistant coaches.
Baksh said that although the team has just been named, a broader squad had been in training since April.

As a result of this, he said that the squad’s preparations are on schedule and they are currently in the final stage for the meet which is just about two weeks away.