Swimmers wrap up a super season
Members of the Margate Swimming Club have performed admirably.
THE South African Level 3 Age Group Championship was held in Port Elizabeth, with both Danielle Smith and Liam Botha producing great swims.
Danielle (16) qualified top eight in four events, with a thrilling finish in the 200m individual medley which saw her place fourth in a time of 2:27.73.
Liam (13), a first time competitor at this level, finished inside the top 20 for both his key events, the 50m and 100m freestyle, recording personal best times.
Charles Thompson, Arno Smith, Jeandré Joubert, Josh Parry and Suné de Wit travelled up to Sasolburg for the Level 2 Championships where they collectively bagged 19 finals and five medals.
Charles (15) claimed the bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke, while Arno (13) achieved four podium finishes, placing second in the 200m backstroke and 100m butterfly, and third in the 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.
After a shaky start to the championships, Jeandré showed his resilience and ability to bounce back by placing sixth in the 200m backstroke and clocking a personal best time of 30.96 in the 50m freestyle.
Suné (13) recorded personal best times in her all of her events, progressing through to the 200m breaststroke and 400m freestyle finals, and finishing sixth and seventh respectively.
Josh produced arguably the best performance of the championship in the 200m individual medley smashing his previous time by 16.40 seconds to earn a place in the final where he went on to place fourth in a tightly contested race where he went under the three minute mark to record a personal best time of 2:58.24.
Missing from the line-up was teammate Clarisa le Hanie, who suffered a shoulder injury which took her out of competition.
Level 1 Championships in Durban turned out to be a memorable one for JP Myburgh, where he bagged five medals; gold for the 50m and 100m backstroke, and the 50m and 100m butterfly, and a silver for the 200m backstroke.
This was the first major meet for young swimmer, Kai Hielckert (10) who achieved three finals, in the 50m and 100m freestyle, and 200m bacsktroke, with a second Level 2 qualifying time in the 100m freestyle that will see him move up next season.
“Congratulations to all swimmers. You represented your team with pride, enjoy your well deserved break,” said coach Cheree Dufner.
