A 20-MEMBER team, comprising 17 swimmers and three officials, is expected to depart tomorrow for Barbados to represent Guyana in this year’s Goodwill Swimming Championships which kicks off this Friday.

Making up the Guyana team are Lajaun Munroe, Raekwon Noel, and national record holder Leon Seaton in the Boys 8-and-under category, while Alika Persaud will be the only swimmer on the Girls’ side of the category.
In the 11-12 category are Nkosi Beaton and Nathan Hackett. National Girls champion Accalia Khan will lead the Girls end of the 13-14 category, which also includes Nikita Fiedtkou. On the Boys side are Phillip DeNobrega and Jamaal Skeete.
Though the competition will lack the skills of last year’s Girls 15-17 champion Britany van Lange, the category will depend heavily on Goodwill silver medallist Athena Gaskin and bronze medallist Soroya Simmons. The two are in the category alongside Jamila Sanmoogan.
Also missing from this year’s team is last year’s only other gold medallist Onika George, who will not be taking part in the tournament as she prepares for competition in the South American Youth Championships later next month. In the Boys 15-17 category are Hannibal Gaskin, Omar Adams, Omari Dunn and newcomer Derrick Ramsaroop.
Team manager is Ivan Persaud while coaches are Sean Baksh, Isabel Couso Fals, and Shyka Gonslaves, who is already in Barbados, is team chaperone.
The competition, which continues across the weekend and ends on Sunday, will see the Guyanese swimmers compete against swimmers from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and St Lucia. The defending champions Suriname will be the team with the most to prove as the competition kicks off.
Though over the years Guyana have not had much success in the overall Team position, the local side have always managed to make it to the podium in the individual races.
The 17 swimmers on the team represent less than half of the maximum number of swimmers that each country is allowed to enter in the competition, with the maximum being 40 swimmers.
Last year Guyana finished fourth after entering a team of 27 swimmers. Coach Baksh yesterday afternoon related that while medals are expected from the swimmers, given that most of the other countries will be sending a full team to participate, not much can be said for the team’s overall performance.
“The team came together rather late but we should do fairly well, based on our level of training and where we are now. I expect that most countries especially Trinidad and Barbados will most likely field the full team, and Suriname will come pretty close, I don’t think St Lucia will have a full team,” Baksh said.
The swim team have been on a twice daily  training regimen  from  Monday to Saturday for just over a month, training as one unit.
Before this they were with their respective clubs also preparing for the meet.
The more experienced Goodwill swimmers include Khan, Simmons, Sanmoogan, the Gaskin siblings and Omar Adams, and they are expected to lead the medal count and keep the Golden Arrowhead flying. However, juniors Leon Seaton and Nathon Hackett are also expected to perform well. Team captains are Athena and Adams.