Dylan has his sight set on senior nationals

Dylan had seven six-place finishes (200-metre individual medley, 100-metre fly, 200-metre individual medley, 50-metre fly, 100-metre breast and 200-metre free relay).

Last year the Uniswim Nelspruit swimmer also smashed a record in the same event which was held by Corné Prozesky since 1990.

Earlier this month, Dylan swam a time of 1:12,84 in the 100-metre breast event at the Age Group Six Gala in Middelburg. This time makes him the current fastest high school boy’s swimmer in Mpumalanga in that item.

Mom, L-Jean, said as a young boy, Dylan refused to get into a pool.

“He was only three and a half years old when we enrolled him in Barberton Nursery School. He used to run around the pool with one of those pool noodles. After a year, coach Des McCaley phoned and said, ‘He’s in!'”

His first competitive gala was at the age of eight, at Uplands. After missing out on a podium place finish, Dylan was determined to improve his swimming skills.

“I wanted to get my tumbles right. I realised that if I want to improve my times as well as my skills, I have to commit to training harder. And I did. It wasn’t always easy, but all the hard work eventually paid off.”

Since 2014, Dylan has represented his province at the South African School Championships (there were no SA School Champs in 2016).

“I used the first year as a learning curve. The following year I made the final of the 100-metre breaststroke.”

Last year he reached the finals in the 50-metre breaststroke as well as in the 100-metre. He finished fifth and seventh respectively.

Dylan is currently in Durban for the SA Junior Nationals that commenced on Wednesday.

The winning time in the 50-metre breaststroke for u/15 is 30,7. He wants to try his best to beat this.

He is 1,35 seconds short of qualifying for the 50-metre breast for senior nationals in Port Elizabeth at the end of April.

After Dylan’s memorable moment in 2017, he messaged Prozesky on Facebook. To Dylan’s surprise, Prozesky replied.