THE Guyana team amassed 142 points to end in fifth position while Suriname took top honours at the regional Goodwill Swim Meet, which ended last Sunday at the Aquatic Centre, Wildey, St Michael in Barbados.

The Suriname team amassed 1 512 points to defend their title, and ended almost 200 points ahead of second-placed Trinidad and Tobago, who accumulated 1 365 points with 113 medals, which included 21 gold, 54 silver and 38 bronze, but could not challenge the 133 medals that Suriname took home.
Suriname had a whopping 57 gold medals, supplemented by 35 silver medals and 41 bronze. Guyana walked away with a measly eight medals – two silver and six bronze medals.
The competition’s third place position went to team Barbados with 1 289 points and 98 medals – 42 gold, 26 silver, and 30 bronze.
St Lucia finished one spot ahead of Guyana, after they finished with 520 points and one gold medal more than Guyana.
Guyana’s National swimmers, Soroya Simmons, Athena Gaskin, Accalia Khan, and Hannibal Gaskin must receive credit for our medals.
Simmons was Guyana’s chief medal-taker, in the Girls’ 15-17, winning one silver and two bronze medals. In the same category Gaskin followed with silver and a bronze. Khan won two bronze and Hannibal won one bronze on the opening day of the competition last Friday.
This year’s medal haul reflects a downscale from the 23 medals Guyana managed to end with last year when the competition was held here in Guyana at the National Aquatic Centre.
However this year also saw a downsizing of the team, with 17 swimmers being almost half of the 26 who represented Guyana last year.
Simmons won silver in the 100m backstroke, while her bronze were in the 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle.
Gaskin’s silver was in the 100m breaststroke, while her earlier bronze was in the 50m breaststroke. Khan had bronze in the 200m and 100 freestyle events in the Girls’ 13-14 category. Hannibal won bronze in the Boys’ 15-17 200m freestyle