Bernelee named super swimmer for 2019
Bernelee was awarded the trophies for the top female 14/15 years and top senior swimmer overall.
The wettest and coldest Eastern Gauteng Summer Championships in memory were held over the first weekend in December.
Bernelee Doster of ESP Aquatics was this year’s super swimmer, winning 12 gold, three silver and one bronze medal in her individual events. She swam every event on the programme from the 800m free to 200m fly, and was in the final, and received a medal in every event.
Bernelee was awarded the trophies for the top female 14/15 years, and top senior swimmer overall. She won the EGA Open Water Championships 3km swim, which has defined her versatility and athleticism.
Bernelee broke the 100m backstroke record set in 2008 by one of the club’s previous swimmers, Kathryn Bauman, with a time of 1:07.63.
Top swimmers facing the challenge of swimming in every event at a provincial championship must face up to 4.8km of hard racing as well as swimming a minimum of 2km a day in warm ups. Over the five days, Bernelee would have swum 13.8km.
Kyle Mckenzie was in the final n every event he swam, winning six gold, three silver and one bronze medal. He was awarded the top male 16 and over trophy.
ESP and The Aquatic Academy will miss him when he leaves to study in America in January.
Points were scored from the many finals the swimmers qualified for.
Annebel van Wyk attained a South African junior qualifying time and will join Bernelee and Joshua Gillespie next year at the national event over the Easter in Durban.
The overall ESP individual medal count was 22 gold, 14 silver and four bronze.
The relay teams won four bronze medals.
