Van Lange storms to gold, Roberts, Gaskin & 15-17 boys relay team take silver

Aug 17, 2009 Sports

By Franklin Wilson in Barbados  

Guyana pulled the lid on their campaign at the 15th Goodwill Swim Meet in Barbados in stylish fashion with the 15-17 boys relay team winning the silver medal in the 200m to cap a fine run at the games which was won again by Suriname with Team Guyana ending fourth overall out of the five countries.

Athena Gaskin

The highlight of the final day however was Britany Van Lang’s gold medal in the 50m freestyle, a commanding performance by the 12 year-old athlete who went into the race as the highest seeded swimmer (30.70).     

She maintained that billing as she eased to an exciting win urged on by her colleagues and a number of Guyanese fans in the stands and completed the distance in 29.95. Trinidad and Tobago’s Syriah David finished a close 2nd for the silver in 29.99 with Suriname’s Candis Pique taking bronze in 31.07.

Van Lange won silver in the 100m free on day two and bronze in the 200m free on day one.       

Niall Roberts, the most experienced swimmer on the 16-member Guyana team ended his final year at this level (developmental) stylishly by guiding the 15-17 boys (Jaime Jabar, Henk Lowe, Stephen Soares) to silver in the final event of the meet, 200m free. Initially, Guyana had taken the bronze but Trinidad and Tobago who had won the race, was disqualified which meant that Suriname was promoted to gold (1:41.31), Guyana silver (1:45.19) and Barbados bronze (1:49.62).     

Earlier, Roberts who ended with 8 medals including 5 individuals, had taken silver in the 50m free in 24.30 which bettered the previous record of 24.56 set back in 1999 by Ryan Yearwood. T&T’s Abraham McLeod gold medal mark and new record for the event is 23.93. Shelemaih Redmond secured the bronze with a time of 24.98.

Guyana Goodwill swmimers pose with supporters and team officials at the Aquatic Centre at the end of the 15th Goodwill Championships.