ESP ‘Piranhas’ come fourth at winter short course championships

ESP swimmers proudly competed in their newly branded kit at the second Ekurhuleni district winter short course championships where 27 clubs competed.

Thanks to Dylan Copeland, ESP now has a modern image and considers itself to be the “Home of Piranhas”.

All the winter training paid off with the ESP team claiming fourth place at this two-day event.

All the events were swum in heats which preceded the finals and finalists were selected from the top eight times.

Unfit swimmers struggled by the second day. It is a long day as swimmers need to “warm up” and then “cool down” after every race. Ten events a day can easily add up the mileage, averaging 3km, on each day of competition.

Swimmers will start the morning with a 1km warm up, followed by 20 minutes of dynamic stretching and explosive jumps. Averaging an estimated total of 500m of racing, add another 1.5km for cool downs (this encourages the “body chemistry” to recover as close to normal as possible, aiding the body to recuperate quicker and enabling swimmers to continue racing hard.

ESP swimmers won three gold medals, six silver and nine bronze. The points were scored in the 74 final events the swimmers qualified for.

Only finalists in the top eight score points for the club.

ESP’s top results on medal count were:

Kyle McKenzie: 10 finals: 3 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze; 179 points

Caitlin Heuer: 8 finals: 2 silver, 2 bronze; 122 points

Nicholas Smith: 8 finals: 2 bronze; 106 points

Mikayla Pon: 6 finals: 2 bronze; 88 points

Kent Field: 10 finals: 1 bronze; 139 points

Ashley Corns: 2 finals: 1 bronze; 27 points

Savannah Sheerin: 8 finals; 111 points

Murray Copeland: 6 finals; 71 points

Jonathan Smith: 5 finals; 61.5 points

Ashley Corns: 2 finals: 1 bronze; 27 points

Clayton Malaza: 2 finals; 26 points

Kyle North: 2 finals; 26 points

Annebel Van Wyk: 2 finals; 28 points

Brooklynn Bohler: 1 final; 13 points

Jody Copeland: 1 final; 13 points

Jayden Botha: 1 final; 12 points

Bernelee Doster: 1 final; 11 points