TRINIDAD and Tobago may have won this year’s Goodwill Swim Meet but it was team Guyana that grabbed the spotlight with the country’s remarkable improvement. They finished third place to end a longstanding streak of bad luck for the Land of Many Waters at the regional developmental meet, which concluded last Sunday at the National Aquatic Centre, in Liliendaal. Boasting two age-group champions in Aleka Persaud and Leon Seaton, multiple record-breaking performances and a heavy haul of 60 medals, including 20 gold, Guyana finished with 868.5 points, some distance away from the penultimate position the team managed at the competition last year, when competing against five other countries in St Lucia. This year Guyana’s participation was bolstered by maximum participation and impressive performances, which saw 11 of the 40 participating Guyanese swimmers medal in individual events. Several others contributed the 14 relay medals for the country.After ending the second day of competition on Saturday, just 50 points behind the Bahamas, Guyana picked up their final 21 medals on Sunday, with Seaton and Lian Winter setting new meet records en route to Guyana’s third-place finish. Also showing much improvement, Bahamas ended with 805 points for fourth, moving up after finishing in last place last year.

Trinidad and Tobago successfully defended their title as the winning country after putting together 1 322 points, holding off longtime adversary Suriname for yet another year, but only just. Suriname ended just 33 points behind Trinidad, while usual third-place finishers Barbados were displaced to fifth position this year with just 445 points. St Lucia ended in sixth with 314.5 points and newcomers Grenada were last with 50 points. After ending the first day of competition with 11 medals, Guyana had plunged into an encouraging start at the meet on Friday. The country’s first medal – a gold – was clinched by Persaud in the Girls’ 9-10 100m freestyle with a time of 1:05.78s. It was the first of 10 medals that Persaud obtained by the end of the meet. Two silver in the 50m breaststroke (39.06s), and 100m backstroke (1:21.04s), being the only events in which she did not secure gold. She set her second Goodwill Swim Meet record, first in the Girls 9-10 category, then in the 50m butterfly ending in a time of 31.41 seconds, shaving a second off Destiny Harding’s five-year old previous record.A versatile swimmer, Persaud also copped gold in the 50m freestyle (29.29s), 100m freestyle (1:05.78s), 200m freestyle (2:29.77s), 200m IM (2:46.81s), 100m breaststroke (1:25.65s), 50m backstroke (35.56s) and the 100m butterfly (1:14.59s)With nine medals, including five record- breaking performances, Seaton was Guyana’s second-best performer. Seaton was on a record-breaking mission as he hunted gold medal after gold medal, taking eight by the time he was through. He swam to a new record in the 200m freestyle (2:10.37s), 100m freestyle (58.19s), 50m freestyle (26.18s), 50m butterfly (29.20s), and 50m backstroke (31.72s), while he also had gold medals in the 100m backstroke (1:10.49s), 100m butterfly (1:06.16s) and the 200m IM (2:33.95s).

He also finished with bronze in the 100m breaststroke (1:23.54s).Building on the three gold medals she accomplished last year, Jadyn George returned, this year in the Girls’ 13-14 category to pick up five medals – one gold, two silver and bronze.Lian Winter set her first meet record after swimming to a 33.70 seconds finish in the Girls’ 11-12 50m backstroke. Other medal earners over the weekend included the Mahaica siblings Kenita, Paul and Patrice, Raekwon Noel, Nikita Fiedtkou, Phillip DeNobrega and Daniel Scott. The full list of Guyanese medallists at the 2017 Goodwill Swim Meet are as follows: Aleka Persaud – 8 gold, 2 silver Leon Seaton – 8 gold, 1 bronze Jadyn George – 1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze Lian Winter – 1 gold, 1 silverRaekwon Noel – 2 silver, 1 bronze Phillip DeNobrega –  1 silver, 5 bronze  Daniel Scott – 1 silver, 2 bronze Patrice Mahaica – 1 silver, 2 bronze Paul Mahaica – 1 silver, 1 bronzeNikita Fiedtkou – 2 bronze  Kenita Mahaica – 1 bronze Relays – 2 gold, 8 silver, 4 bronze