New national swimming records were achieved in 11 different events in the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association’s (GASA) Annual Independence Swim Meet which came to a close last Sunday at the National Aquatic Centre.
Featuring the best of Guyana’s national swimmers, the meet also served as a basis for selection for the swimmers who will be on the training squad for the Goodwill Swimming Championships.
One particular standout was Silver Shark’s Leon Seaton who broke 3 records in the boys’ 8-and-under category.
Putting on some impressive performances throughout the competition, Seaton was among the competition’s first record breakers when he broke his own record in the 50m backstroke (1:02.36s) when the competition began on Thursday last. Seaton continued with a record in the 100m freestyle (1:55.78s) on Saturday, before finishing off his record breaking performance on Sunday, setting the 50m freestyle record at 48.72 seconds.
In the boys’ 11 – 12 category the 50m freestyle record now stands at 30.66s after Sunday’s performance by Dylan Nurse. Nurse also has the record for the 200m freestyle (2:48.49s), which he set on Thursday afternoon. Nurse also won the 50m backstroke coming within milliseconds of the Goodwill “A” 38.70 qualifying times, as well as the 38.94s national record held by Hannibal Gaskin.
Nkosi Beaton took the 100m breaststroke event at 1:59.54, smashing the previous 2:34.80s record, finishing ahead of Joseph DeNobrega.
In the girls’ 13 – 14 100m breaststroke event, the battle was between Jamila Sanmoogan and Saiyana Baksh, with both surpassing the 2:02.02 record held by Baksh. Despite her fight to retain her national title, Baksh’s 2:01.59s was not enough to defeat Sanmoogan, who set the event’s newest record at 1:50.88s.
Nevertheless, Baksh’s best was still enough to see her keep her record in the 800m freestyle swim, where she cut the record down to 15:44.78s.
Also in the 13 – 14 categories, Onika George and Hannibal Gaskin both reset the records for the girls’ and boys’ 400m freestyle events, respectively.
On the girls side George reduced her previously held record to 5:49.42s, while Gaskin took two seconds off the last record to set a new time of 4:53.69s.
Dorado’s Sarah King also got in on the record breaking action, putting the girls’ 9 – 10 100m freestyle at 1:33.10.
