SETTING the national record in the girls 8 and under 50m butterfly at 44.28 seconds just three months ago, Orca Speed Swim Club swimmer Aleka Persaud once again outdid herself yesterday when she clocked 41.50 seconds to top her personal best in the event, when the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Independence National Long Course Championships commenced at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC), Liliendaal. Persaud clocked her time while championing the event ahead of Silver Shark’s Antonia Dey who clocked 51. 36 seconds, also a personal best.
Third place for the event went to Dorado’s Monique Watson in another personal best of 54.93 seconds. Persaud’s record remains unofficial until sanctioned by the GASA technical committee.

Not finishing there, Persaud also took gold in the 50m freestyle and 200m IM of her category, clocking another personal best in the former.
The eight year old clocked 34.16 seconds in the 50m freestyle to touch the wall ahead of ten other swimmers, while outdoing her previous 36.07 seconds seed time. In the 200m IM she clocked 3:17.28s.

Also topping their personal best for the day was national record holder Leon Seaton, who topped his seed timings in the 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 200m IM. Swimming in the boys 9 – 10 age category the Silver Shark Aquatic Swim Club athlete clocked 35.44 seconds and 31. 13 seconds, respectively, in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle, while gaining gold in both events.
However Seaton’s 3:04.67s in the 200m IM was only good enough for a silver, as it was not enough to overthrow the 3:04.59s swam by Dorado’s Noel Raekwon to master the event.

Dolphin’s Sekhel Tzedeq chronicled a personal best in the boys’ 11 – 12 50m freestyle where he won the event 32.25 seconds, while he also landed gold in the 200m IM of his category in a time of 1:24.66s.

Also clocking personal bests were Mahaica siblings Paul and Kenita. Paul in the boys 8 and under clocked 44.66 seconds and 36.72 seconds respectively in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle, while Kenita clocked 1:23.65s in the 100m breaststroke.

Mahaica played second fiddle to Silver Shark’s Amy Grant in the 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 200m IM, where Grant clocked 34.20 seconds, 31.12 seconds and 3:07.69s, respectively.

In the senior category, Dorado’s Britany van Lange swam 28.53 seconds in the girls’ 18 and over 50m freestyle to top the 33.06 seconds swam by clubmate Athena Gaskin. She also defeated Gaskin in the 50m butterfly where she clocked 32.56 seconds.

Competition in the event is set to continue today at the same venue starting at 11.00hrs, with warm up beginning 1 hour prior.