Tuks swimmers win USSA Swim Champs for the 6th consecutive time
The Tuks swimming team won the USSA Swim Championships in Port Elizabeth last week and their best swimmer surprised everyone when she, who is better known as a long-distance open water swimmer, did so well in the pool.
Tuks’ swimmers continued to make a big splash last week during the USSA Swim Championships in Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha, winning overall as well as the men’s and women’s team competitions.
It is the sixth year that Tuks has been victorious. Four of the seven swimmers selected for the USSA Team are from Tuks.
Liam Vehbi and Amica de Jager were the two Tuks swimmers who scored the highest World Aquatics points in an individual event. De Jager was indeed on song. She was the female swimmer who scored the most points during the gala.
De Jager can be excused if she feels chuffed with her performance in the pool. Distance swimming is her thing. Earlier this year, during the African Beach Games in Tunisia, she won gold in the 5km Open Water Swim. She also represented South Africa at the World Swimming Championships in Japan.
What gets her going is testing her physical skills against the challenges of swimming in oceans. Trying to fine-tune the art of getting the better of rip currents and choppy swells.
“The last time I competed in a swimming gala was about a year ago. It was also the USSA Championships,” said the MSc Computer Science student.
She competed in seven individual events and won all six freestyle events, while finishing second in the 200m-breaststroke.
It seems impossible that a distance swimmer can win a 50-metre event. In athletics, it would boil down to a marathon athlete winning the 100-metre sprint.
Photo: Reg Caldecott
De Jager laughs when she is asked about her sprinting abilities.
“I guess some might think it is strange for me to win races over such short distances as the 50 and 100 metres. But what many might not know is that sprinting is part and parcel of distance swimming. Over the last 100 metres, it is all about who is the fastest,” she remarked.
De Jager is unsure in which event she notched up the most World Aquatics points.
“I think it could have been the 400-metre freestyle,” she said.
Despite her sprinting prowess, De Jager has no plans to change from open-water swimming to pool galas.
“Some of Tuks’ long-distance coaches might have gotten worried because I was not doing the typical heavy mileage in the buildup to the USSA Champs. Although I enjoy competing in the pool, I know where my strengths as a swimmer are. It is distance swimming. I aim to qualify for next year’s Paris Olympic Games. To do so will take many long and hard hours of training,” she concluded.
The Tuks swimmers selected for the USSA Team are Cameron Casali, Arno Kruger, Owethu Mahan and Liam Vehbi.
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