Ronaldo Rodrigues, one of Guyana’s swimmers who competed in Dubai last year, during his commanding victory in the Boys 15 & Over 200m breaststroke
Last year, it seemed as though every time teenage swim sensation Brittany Van Lange plunged into the pool she shattered a record, and in her first meet of the year, the Inter-Club Endurance Swim Meet held over the weekend at Castellani Pool, Van Lange broke three more national records.
The 14-year-old multiple Goodwill Swimming Championships gold medallist competed in six events and won five of them. In the event that she did not win, the Girls’ 13-14 200m backstroke, Soroya Simmons won in record time. Simmons clocked 2:41.94s, while Van Lange’s second place time (2:49.32s) was also faster than the previous record held by Athena Gaskin.
Last weekend’s meet was Van Lange’s first assignment after competing at the World Short Course Swimming Championships, which were held in Dubai in December. There, Van Lange managed to better a few of her personal records.
Swimming the first event of the meet, the 1500m freestyle, Van Lange clocked 19:51:80s to surpass Athena Gaskin’s two-year-old record by more than 40 seconds. Van Lange also lowered her 800m freestyle record which she set last year by almost 25 seconds. Her other record-breaking performance occurred yesterday, Valentine’s Day, in the 400m individual medley, the old time of which she surpassed by over 20 seconds, which is equivalent to almost an entire length of the 25m pool.
Since this is her second year competing in that age group, Van Lange told Guyana Times International Sport, she intends to keep improving on her timing all year round.
Ronaldo Rodrigues, the other swimmer who competed in Dubai, won four of the five events in which he competed in the Boys’ 15-and-Over category. Twenty-two-year-old Fabian Binns and 18-year-old Jaime Jabar got the better of 15-year-old Rodrigues in the 200m freestyle.
Athena Gaskin won the Girls 15 & Over 200m breaststroke and the 400m freestyle yesterday during the final day of GASA’s Inter-Club Endurance Swim meet
Nkosi Beaton, Athena Gaskin, Craig Harlequin, Saiyana Baksh, Henck Lowe and Travis Henry were among event winners on the third and final day of the meet yesterday. Dorado Speed Swim Club won the meet with a total of 158 points, more than doubling the points’ tally of second place finishers, Silver Sharks Aquatic Swim Club, who amassed 78 points during the meet.
Linden’s Himara Swim Club, the club which recently regained their affiliate membership status with the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA), placed third with 25 points; while Orca Speed Swim Club placed fourth with 15 points. GASA’s next meet is the Mashramani Swim Meet, which is expected to take place next week.
