The Dorado Speed Swim Club collected a healthy 158 points to rule the roost at the year’s first local swim meet when the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Inter-Club Endurance Meet came to a close on Sunday at the Castellani Pool, Homestretch Avenue.
Dorado’s closest competition came from the Silver Shark Aquatic Swim Club which came in second with 78 points while 43 points put the Dolphin Speed Swim Club in third position.
The newly reinstated Haimara Aquatic Swim Club of Linden managed 23 points for fourth place while Orca Speed Swim Club put together 15 points for fifth.
Dorado was lead by a strong female side that included the Guyana’s leading junior female swimmer Britany van Lange.
Van Lange, in her first performances of the year, won five gold and one silver medal. Her performances were garnished with personal best times and four national records.
She opened her campaign on Friday in the girls’ 13 – 14 category with an assault on the 1500m freestyle event where she set a new national record of 19:51:80s which was all the more remarkable as it superseded even the 20:15.45s clocked by Ronaldo Rodrigues in winning the boys’ 15 and over 1500m.
On Saturday van Lange scored another win in the 200m freestyle (2:17:03s), while another record was broken in the 200m backstroke where she clocked 2:49.42s.
However the ultimate record time for the backstroke event was clocked by van Lange’s clubmate Soroya Simmons who set a new national record of 2:41:94s.
Van Lange broke two more records in the 800m freestyle (10:02:42s) and the 400m IM (6:08:75s), while she gathered another PB in the 400m freestyle (4:56:53s).
Simmons, in addition to adding a new record, won her 200m butterfly (3:07:98s) and brought second in the 400m freestyle (5:24:20s) both times clocking PBs.
Also on Dorado’s female side was Athena Gaskin, who participated in the girls’ 15 and over category. Gaskin gained wins in all four of her races, producing PBs in her 400m freestyle (5:09:56s) and 400m IM (6:05:32s).
The Silver Shark’s lead man was Rodrigues, who won four events and brought third in the 200m freestyle which was won by Orca’s Fabian Binns in 2:13:09s.
Dolphins Travis Henry in the boys’ 13 – 14 years category gained three wins, a second and a third, while his clubmate in the boys’ 15 years and over category Jaime Jabar won his 800m freestyle in a PB time of 10:41:81s. Jabar also came second in the 200m freestyle event.
