– local clubs bag nine medals in total

TOP swimmer Ariel Rodrigues on Sunday showed her growing pedigree by clinching her third gold medal in the girls 100m backstroke at the ASATT invitational meet in Trinidad and Tobago.
The club championship was hosted by the Marlins Swim Club.
Local swimmer Rodrigues took gold with a new national record time of 1 minute 09.71 seconds, lowering the previous record of 1 minute 11.49 seconds.
She also claimed gold medals in the 50m and 200m back strokes earlier in the competition.
She also captured bronze in the 50m freestyle with a time of 27.88 seconds on Sunday to be crowned the best girls 15 and over in the back strokes.
Her compatriot Shareefah Lewis took silver in the girl’s 50m freestyle with a blistering 27.49 seconds, with Olympian Aleka Persaud taking fourth place in 27.92 seconds
Guyana also took gold, with team Dorado made up of Elissa Thompson-Shipley, Duru Gokal, Makayla Tuma, and Zafirah Hackett winning in the Girls 400m Freestyle Relay and finished second in the 200m medley relay.
Overall, the Guyanese club finished with nine medals at the four-day meet with ORCA capturing three gold and a bronze, compliments of Rodrigues.
Dorado took two medals in the relays, while Sea Otter’s Shareefa Lewis took bronze and Paul Mahaica jr won a silver and gold medal.
The competition ran from December 11-14 and featured several local clubs competing for top honors.
This meet was sanctioned by World Aquatics and is the meet of choice for many athletes seeking qualification for the Olympics, World Championships, and other major international events.