By Kiev Chesney
The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) began its preparation for the 2008 Goodwill Swimming Championships which will be held in Guyana next month when the Time Trials which began Friday, continued yesterday at Castellani Pool.
According to a release from GSA, the meet is being held to select the squad to represent Guyana at the Goodwill Swimming Championship.
As host country Guyana will have to be represented by a full team and therefore the top performers will be awarded a spot of the team regardless of their timings.
However, some of the top performers still managed to turn in Goodwill qualifying times.
Those swimmers were dual bronze medalist at the 2008 Inter-Guiana Games Noelle Smith; 2008 Junior Carifta Games participant, Linden Wickham and Niall Roberts, who will represent Guyana at the Olympic Games next month.
Smith won the girls’ 50m freestyle in 31:59 seconds which surpassed the ‘B’ qualifying time for the event (32:12s). She also swam faster than the `B’ qualifying mark (37.96s) in the 50m backstroke which she won in 37.95 seconds.
Smith also won the 50m breaststroke and 50 butterfly events but came a fraction of a second short of the qualifying mark in both of those events.
Like Smith, Wickham won all of his events swimming the Goodwill ‘B’ qualifying times in the 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle events.
Roberts, who is hoping to achieve the Olympic qualifying time in the 50m freestyle for personal fulfillment, came up more than two seconds short, but did make the Goodwill time 25:19s in the event.
Other top swimmers at the meet include Serrano Gonsalves, Britany Van Lange, Sorroya Simmons, Ashley Layne, Nathaniel King and Kristyl Robinson.
