Records tumble as WBHS wins the inter-provincial gala for 11th consecutive year
The WBHS teams also broke 11 records, after having broken seven records in the Alan Burt Gala last week.
WESTVILLE Boys’ High School continued their winning streak in the pool this weekend, being crowned champions in the Inter-Provincial gala held at the school on Friday night, taking St Benedicts down 12-9 in the Water Polo pool on Saturday, and then having three Westville Boys in the Midmar Mile Men’s race top 20 – Dante Nortje placed 14th, Connor Botha 18th and Luca Holtzhauzen 20th.The WBHS teams also broke 11 records, after having broken seven records in the Alan Burt Gala.
Last weekend saw WBHS win the Alan Burt Gala for the 11th consecutive year as well , beat Kearsney’s 1st Water Polo team 9-1 and topped it with three pupils being called up to SA Schools Water Polo teams, Teague Loelly, (SA Men’s U17), David MacDonald (SA Men’s U17B) and Yaseen Margro (U18 World Cup Qualifying Team).
ALSO READ: Westville celebrates great weekend in the pool
The Invitational Gala on Friday was an exciting affair despite the absence of Paul Roos who were unable to attend due to complications in the Cape caused by the water shortage.
Grey College were once again strong in all their age groups and never finished out of the top 3 while St Davids and St Benedicts had balanced all round teams who competed fiercely against each other and both pushed Westville.
Westville started well by winning all the freestyle events with the U15 team claiming the record back from the Grey 2017 team and the U17 team breaking a WBHS 2011 record.
The breaststroke is traditionally the Achilles heel for WBHS and this year was a year of contrast with the U16 and U17 teams losing out to Grey but the U14 team shattered the Grey 2013 record by more than 2s. The U15 team also swam well to better then 2014 WBHS record and maybe set the change for years to come in the breaststroke.
Backstroke is always a nervous time for coaches as teams can commit many errors to be disqualified but the U14 team started the stroke well by breaking the record set by their teammates last year and the U15 team not to be outdone, broke the WBHS 2011 record as well. The next three age groups also made no technical errors and swam well to win all three of their events while Grey fell foul of the officials and were disqualified in the U19s.
Westville are traditionally favourites in the fly and did not disappoint with all the age groups winning and the U17 team breaking the 2011 WBHS record. The U14 team broke the 2017 record by more than 2 seconds while the U15s broke the 2017 WBHS record. One of the oldest records still standing was the 2009 U19 medley but that was broken by the WBHS team.
The ladder freestyle is the ultimate event of the evening as a school needs only one good swimmer per age group and anyone can win. The record was set 19 years ago by the DHS team and had seldom been threatened . WBHS started in front with a sub 25s swim from Holtzhausen , Brijlal and Mayer both held the lead while an awesome sub 24s swim by Bosch (his third of the evening) put WBHS well in front and captain Nortje swam a controlled 24,6s leg to break the record by 1.35s and claim another notch on the trophy.
WBHS was also proud of its B team who placed seventh out of 12 schools, beating Hilton, Glenwood, College, Kearsney and DHS.
Final scores
1. WBHS A 309 (out of a possible 312)
2. Grey College 275
3. St. Davids 223
4. St. Benedicts 218
5. Clifton 184
6. Affies 158
7. WBHS B 147
8. Hilton 141
9. Glenwood 122
10. Maritzburg College 93
11. Kearsney 92
12. DHS 62
Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Highway Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
