SILVER Sharks’ Leon Seaton, Dorado’s Lian Winter and Orca’s Aleka Persaud were among those who prevailed as age-group champions after putting out some of the best

performances at last weekend’s Independence Anniversary Swim Meet which was held at the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal.

Seaton topped Boys’ 11-12 category with a total 88 points, after taking gold in eight out of his nine events, and finishing with silver in the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:28.78s, just a split second behind Noel Raekwon’s 1:28.77s finish.
It was Raekwon who finished second in the Boys’ 11-12 category with 76 points.
Seaton had gold in the 50m breaststroke (38.09s), 50m backstroke (34.09s), 100m backstroke (1:16.36s), 50m freestyle (27.22s), 100m freestyle (1:02.34s) and 200m freestyle (2:19.12s), finishing ahead of Raekwon in each event.

In the 50m butterfly he clocked 30.53 seconds for the win, with plenty of time to spare after Dorado’s Ethan Gonsalves made his way in some four seconds later for second place.
Gonsalves had finished third in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:33.56s.
In the 400m freestyle Seaton took another major win as he dominated over his club mate Annan Roberts, touching the wall in 5:02.12s. Roberts was way behind with 7:07.12s.
Winter had 81 points to champion the Girls’ 11-12 age group, with 9 straight gold medals. Persaud had 90 points, and ten gold medals, to win the Girls’ 9-10 age group, finishing 20 points ahead of Patrice Mahaica.

Winter had literally no competition in her 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke, and 100m butterfly covering the distances in 3:01.41s, 3:00.12s, and 1:14.24s, respectively. Her other events were the 50m freestyle (31.62s), 100m freestyle (1:12.09s), 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke (36.59s), 100m backstroke (1:20.41s), and 200m IM (2:57.79s).
Dolphin’s Mahaica just did not have what it takes to get past Persaud, as the Goodwill Swim Meet gold medallist continued to prove a force to be reckoned with. Mahaica wasn’t just second in the age-group category, she ended with 10 silver, after she was behind Persaud in each of her events.

Persaud was in the 50m breaststroke (40.97s), 100m breaststroke (1:34.69s), 50m backstroke (36.31s), 100m backstroke (1:24.57s), 50m butterfly (32.40s), 100m butterfly (1:18.72s), 50m freestyle (30.59s), 100m freestyle (1:09.87s), 200m freestyle (2:36.04s), and 200m IM (2:57.03s)
Silver Sharks’ Trumaine Cole prevailed with 72 points in the Boys’ 18-and-over category, finishing 39 points ahead of Olympian Hannibal Gaskin, who ended just one point above Earlando McRae.