Van Lange’s gold highlights Guyana’s performance on day one
BRITTANY Van Lange continued her superb form in the pool to give Guyana their only gold medal on the opening day of the 2010 Goodwill Swimming Championships currently on in Suriname.
The meet which also features Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and hosts Suriname saw Van Lange swim a time of one minute 3.21 seconds to narrowly win the Girls’ 13-14 years 100M  Freestyle ahead of  Sangeeta Maharaj (one minute; 3.78), and Rhea Babb (one minute 4.30 seconds).
Her win was Guyana’s first podium finish of the day after six events since Van Lange’s team mates were not fortunate to break past the fourth position in their respective races.
Meanwhile Ronaldo Rodrigues was beaten into second place by Trinidadian Jonathan Gillette (31.78 seconds) who won gold in the Boys’ 13-14 years 50m Breaststroke while Guyanese picked up the silver medal swimming 33.11 seconds and Barbados’ Gabriel Gumby (33.12 seconds) was third.
Noelle Smith was able to pick up her team’s third medal of the day with second-place finish in the Girls’ 15-17 years 50m Breaststroke.
Suriname’s Ruby-Ann Redjopawiro had the fastest time in the pool, registering 37.01 seconds while Smith swam 39.06 seconds to hold off a one-two finish for the hosts since Priscilla Leefland was just behind with a time of 39.19 seconds.
Team Guyana’s other medal on the first day of the Goodwill meet came in the Boys’ 15-17 years 400m Medley Relay where they were second behind the hosts.
The medal count at the end of the first day saw Suriname accumulate 43 (18 gold, 14, silver and 11 bronze), Trinidad and Tobago had 31 (11 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze), Barbados picked up 14 (two gold, three silver and nine bronze) and Guyana sitting in the cellar with four (one gold and three silver).
Suriname also hold a commanding lead overall, with the Dutch scoring a total of 427.50 points, followed by Trinidad and Tobago 365, Barbados 234.50 and Guyana 121 points.
Up to press time, results from yesterday’s event were not available.