Swimmers representing over 15 schools turned up at the Castellani Swimming Pool on Homestretch Avenue to compete in the swimming events of the North Georgetown District No.11 Champion of Champions meet which began yesterday.
And at the end of the day, Bishops’ High School seemed to be ahead in the points tally but the official results are still to be declared.
With a number of female national swimmers in its team, Bishops’ High scored several points from the creditable performances of Britany van Lange, Athena Gaskin, Onika George, and Athena Foo while among the boys the school had Ronaldo Rodrigues who was also successful.
School of the Nations also had their share of winners with Jamaal Henry, Steffi DeNobrega and Serrano Gonsalves, while performances by Ruth Sanmoogan and Travis Henry had St Stanislaus College (Saints) also standing out.
Participating in the under-18 category Henry of School of the Nations put up a first place performance in the 50m butterfly and was third in the 50m freestyle event. Running concurrently with the girls’ under-18 butterfly event, Henry got a head start off his jump and kept a significant lead to end the race in 32.76 seconds.
In the 50m freestyle event Henry recorded 30.02 seconds behind Saints’ Travis Henry (28.29s) in second place with Georgetown Technical Institute’s Jaime Jabar earning the top position in 27.20 seconds.
Participating in both the under-18 and open categories, Jabar, representing GTI, also replicated his results in the boys’ open 50m freestyle, the 100m freestyle, and the 50m butterfly. And Saints’ Travis also earned a win with his time of 37.25 seconds taking him to a first place position in the 50m backstroke. In this event also was John Valentino Patterson who took a second off a time of 41.42 seconds.
The 100m freestyle event of the boys under-18 category was won by Guyana Education Trust College’s (GETC) Mark Jardim (1:09.13s), and the boys open 50m backstroke was won by Nations’ Gonsalves who clocked 31.54s. For both events GTI’s Keiron Noel came in second.
De Nobrega displayed her ability to take first place positions in the 50m freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke events. Clocking 32.80 seconds, the national swimmer sliced ahead of GTI’s Nolica Millington in second (33.04) and Bishops’ Foo third in the 50m freestyle.
However, in the absence of De Nobrega in the 100m freestyle Millington seized the opportunity to snatch a win in 1:15.80s with a sizeable lead over second place finisher St John’s College’s Dacianna Melville who clocked a heavy 2:53.45s.
Back out for the 50m backstroke, De Nobrega swam the race in 42.82 seconds to score an easy win ahead of Foo who finished in 46.16 seconds, and in the breaststroke event De Nobrega clocked 41.67 seconds.
In the 50m butterfly event of the girls’ under-18 category it was Foo who won the race in 46.51 seconds.
Meanwhile, national girls 13–14 100m freestyle record holder, van Lange, walked away with first place victories in the girls’ under-16 50m and 100m freestyle, and in the 50m butterfly.
In the 50m freestyle van Lange clocked 31.39 seconds to come in ahead of Marian Academy’s Soroya Simmons and Brickdam’s Meleisa De Freitas was third. However, she was the sole competitor in the 100m freestyle (1:09.30s) and 50m butterfly (36.82s) events.
Marian Academy’s Sorroya Simmons won the 50m backstroke event of the girls under-16 category in 41.07 seconds.
Over in the open category, van Lange’s schoolmate Gaskin also churned out healthy wins in the 50m butterfly (36.76s), 50m breaststroke (42.00s), and the 50m freestyle (34.70s).
On the boys’ side of the under-16 category Saints’ Nicholas Moore won the 50m freestyle (29.78s) and 100m freestyle (1:12.33s) events, while Rodrigues won the 50m backstroke in 33.15 seconds.
Adding further points for Bishops’, George in the girls under-14 category took a win in the 50m freestyle in 32.22 seconds while Saints’ Sanmoogan finished in 37.66s and Daryl Chambers in 38.35s.
Returning in the 50m backstroke, George swam away with another win in 39.07 seconds, this time ahead of Chambers (46.30s).
In the under-12 category Marian Academy’s Accalia Khan, on the girls’ side and Bishops’ Dylon Nurse on the boys’ side were also winners as was Winfer Garden Primary’s Nkosi Beaton who participated in the under-10 category.
District No. 11 continues its meet today with the cycling events slated for the National Park.
