More records toppled as GASA Mash Meet concludes … 12 CARIFTA qualifying times clocked

AT LEAST six more national long-course swimming records tumbled yesterday as youngsters Aleka Persaud, Paul Mahaica, Leon Seaton, Sekhel Tzedeq and Omar Adams clocked record-breaking performances when the annual Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Mashramani Meet culminated at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal. Following up on the three records she initially broke during the first day’s action last Saturday, Persaud added another notch on her belt as she took gold in the Girls’ 8-and-under 200m freestyle in a time of 3:03.67s to erase Riley Nurse’s 2013 record which stood at 3:59.75s for the same event.

The Orca Speed Swim Club swimmer Persaud also took down the 49.12 seconds record in the 50m backstroke when she finished her race in a winning time of 46 secs flat, with Patrice Mahaica of Dolphin Speed Swim Club and Dorado’s Monique Watson taking silver and bronze behind her in both events.
Persaud also swam and won gold in the 50m freestyle in a time of 36.07 secs. However, the standing national record for the event was unavailable.
Also in the 8-and-under category, but on the Boys’ side, young Paul Mahaica equalled his national record, when he won the Boys’ 200m freestyle in a time of 3:09.71 secs and added another gold to his accolades, when he took the 50m backstroke, eclipsing Dorado’s Elliot Gonsalves’ time of 51.68 secs, by stopping the clock at 49.49 secs yesterday.
Later, Mahaica competed in the 50m freestyle and improved on the 42.22 secs of Dorado’s Jonathan van Lange, when he swam 39.86 seconds.
Like Persaud, Seaton was already a first-day record holder and he returned yesterday to crush his 2014 Boys’ 9-10 200m freestyle record of 2:51.35 secs, after winning the event yesterday in a time of 2:43.87s and later to add gold in the 100m backstroke (1:31.42s), 50m backstroke (39.88s) and 50m freestyle (31.35s) in each case the Silver Shark swimmer out-swam Dorado’s Noel Raekwon.
For his part, Dolphin’s Tzedeq now stands with a record of 38.12 secs in the Boys’ 11-12 50m backstroke, where he won gold then shaved milliseconds off the 38.94 secs record set by Hannibal Gaskin in 2010.
The 11-year-old swimmer also ended yesterday’s event with gold in the 100m backstroke (1:23.28s), while he triumphed over nine other swimmers to also claim gold in the 50m freestyle where he clocked 33.35 secs.
The records gained yesterday will not be officially recognised until sanctioned by the GASA committee.
Meanwhile, Orca’s Romeo Newton clocked 29.01 secs in the Boys’ 13-14 50m freestyle to join the list of swimmers to have clocked CARIFTA Swimming Championships qualifying times, as a whopping 12 CARIFTA qualifying times were achieved yesterday.
The swimmers who have qualified already are Antonio Hussein, Daniel Scott, Hannibal Gaskin, Omar Adams, Joseph DeNobrega, Onika George and Jamila Samogan, all of whom secured more qualifying times as the meet continued yesterday.
Adams gained a CARIFTA qualifying time in the Boys’ 15-17 200m freestyle where his 2:12.37s was enough to overcome both the 2:16.49s qualifying time and the 2:12.93s national record attained by Hannibal Gaskin last year March.
In the same event DeNobrega won silver in a qualifying time of 2:16.32s. Omar also qualified in the 100m butterfly, where he ended the race in 1:06.09s and with silver, behind Gaskin who clocked 1:03.87s, also qualifying for the event.
Scott qualified in the Boys’ 13-14 200m freestyle, winning gold, and in the 50m freestyle he took silver. Gold for the 50m freestyle went to Hussein who clocked 28.36s, also a CARIFTA qualifying time, with George and Samogan clocking qualifying times in the Girls’ 15-17 50m and 200m freestyle respectively.

(By Tamika Garnett)

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