Guyana’s Britany van Lange led the girls’ 15 – 17 relay team to an outstanding 4x100m gold which was preceded by an exceptional bronze medal performance from the Guyana boys’ 13 – 14 relay team as day two of competition in the Goodwill Swimming Championships came to a close at the National Aquatic Centre yesterday.
The ample Guyanese supporters were given something to celebrate on a day when it was announced that Guyana remains in the cellar position of the four countries participating in the regional meet after some 57 events have been tallied.
Suriname leads with 717 points with their boys team racking up 378 points and the girls 339.
In second position is Trinidad and Tobago on 669.50 points. The Trinidad girls team has so far scored 321.50 points and the boys’ team 348 points.
Barbados is next with 437.50 points while Guyana has 218 points.
The Guyana boys team has 98 points and the girls’ team 120 points while Barbados’ boys team has 184 points and the girls’ team 253.50 points.
Despite a day marred with few medals for Guyana, Guyanese supporters screamed their hearts out as the boys 13 – 14 and girls’ 15 – 17 relay teams gave it their all to secure two more medals in the day’s final two events late yesterday afternoon.
In the boys’ 13 – 14 4x100m relay, the Guyana team seemed destined for fourth place as Barbados put up a sturdy fight for third behind the Suriname and Trinidad teams which were way ahead battling for first place.
But Guyana’s Omari Dunn worked to curtail Barbados’ lead before anchor Selwyn Miller gave Barbados’ Shakem Odle a run for his money overtaking him in the last 25 metres of the race leaving the Guyana team to finish in 4:15.10s and gain the bronze medal.
Barbados finished fourth in 4:25.28s.
The race was won by Suriname in 3:57.80s.
The relay team comprised Anfernee Neus, Chefarao Wijders and Jair Vreugd and Jordi Chan.
Suriname’s Chan also walked away with a gold medal in the boys’ 13 – 13 50m backstroke, clocking 29.57s.
Trinidad placed second in the relay in a time of 4:01.56s.
In the girls’ 15 – 17 4x100m relay, a medal for Guyana was inevitable with only two teams participating. Nevertheless, the girls were not settling for silver against the Trinidad and Tobago team. With Trinidad leading for the first three legs of the race it was all up to van Lange, the team’s anchor, who had already picked up three gold medals earlier in the day. Charged with the task of enclosing a sizeable gap between herself and her adversary, van Lange quickly got to work and caught up with her opponent at the 50m mark and effortlessly led her team to a 4:34.65s finish of the race.
Van Lange also collected gold in the 200m IM (2:39.05s) and in the 50m backstroke where she finished in 33.09 seconds ahead of Suriname’s Soroya’s Van Djik who ended in 33.17 seconds.
She also won the 100m freestyle although times were not available up to press time.
Another medal for Guyana in the 15 – 17 age range came from Joseph Seguina who earned a bronze in the boys 15 – 17 50m backstroke clocking 32.02 seconds.
In the girls’ 13 – 14 50m backstroke Guyana’s Onika George’s 33.66 seconds was enough for a second place finish behind Suriname’s Megan Defreitas who finished 33.65s.
