GOODWILL Swim Meet gold medallist Leon Seaton is set to lead a group of seven swimmers, scheduled to fly out next Thursday, January 18, to participate in the inaugural American Swimming Union (UANA) Cup, which will be held from January 19 to 21, at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex, in Coral Springs Florida, USA.

Seaton will be swimming in the Boys’ 13-14 category, along with Ejaz Mohammed, Sekhel Tzedeq and Jonathan Sookram. The team also has Nathan Jackson in the Boys’ 11-12 category, while the two girls on the team are Amber Degoeas and Nikita Peters, both of whom are in the 13-14 age category.
The team will be accompanied by coach Paul Mahaica, while the team manager is Jennel Ramsook.

This will be the first meet of the year for all of the swimmers, as well as the highest level of event in which any of them has ever participated.
The meet is designed for athletes from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean that are in UANA Zones 1 and 2, hence no Americans or Canadians will be a part of the meet, though the meet is being held in America.

It will feature a dual meet between the twelve National Federation members of CONSANAT (Zone 1) and the twenty-eight National Federation members of CCCAN (Zone 2), with athletes scoring points for their regional associations.
A long course event, the meet features competition in three age groups for junior swimmers, namely the 11-12, 13-14, and 15-17. There will be only timed finals.

The Guyanese swimmers have been in training over a month now, and most recently participated at the Annual VOS End-of-Year Invitational Swim Meet in Suriname, where Seaton landed four gold medals and one bronze. Ramsook is optimistic in seeing improvements, if not medals, from the swimmers.

“I expect great performance from them, especially Leon Seaton, who has been improving nicely. They’re all entering the competition at the bottom of the list so coach has really been preparing them, with training in the mornings and evenings. We’re really looking forward to improvements,” Ramsook said.