Mpumalanga’s best swimmers crowned at 2024 Top Schools gala

The best swimmers from around the province descended on Penryn last weekend, October 26 and 27, for the annual Mpumalanga Top Schools Swimming Gala.

The gala, which was split into junior and senior sections, featured a total of 17 teams from around the province – 16 schools plus Uniswim Swimming Club. This led to hundreds of swimmers taking to the pool throughout the competition on Saturday.

The junior section was held in the morning, and the younglings luckily missed the worst of the day’s weather. The junior victor and victrix ludorum awards went to Curro Nelspruit swimmers, Hilton Vos and Emma Marx.

The boys’ best single performance came from Ethan Vermaak of Komatipoort Akademie who earned 535 points for his time of 22.08 seconds in the boys eight-years-old 25m backstroke. The girls’ best single performance belonged to Riley Adams who received 562 points for her time of 01:48.94 in the 100m individual medley.

The senior section swam in the tougher of the day’s conditions as it began to rain again in the afternoon. Maricus Seaman of White River Primary School was handed the senior victor ludorum, while Zoe Morgado of Curro Nelspruit received the victrix ludorum.

Maricus scored the best boys’ single performance for the seniors, with 518 points for his record-breaking time of 39.89 seconds in the 11-years-old 50m breaststroke.

Emmanuela Banza of Penryn had the best girls’ single performance, with 643 points for her own record-breaking time of 42.96 seconds in the 10-years-old 50m breaststroke. These were also the only two records set on the day.

In the boys section Laerskool Nelspruit was first, followed by Curro Nelspruit and then Komatipoort Akademie. Laerskool Nelspruit and Curro Nelspruit took the top two spots in the girls section, but third place went to Uplands.

Finally, in the overall standings, Laerskool Nelspruit hauled in 1 976 points to win, followed by Curro Nelspruit on 1 834 and Uplands College on 966.