Every South African a Swimmer

Day 01 of the SA Level 2 Regional Age Group Swimming Championships

Day 01 of the SA Level 2 Regional Age Group Swimming Championships
Johannesburg, Tuesday, 29th March 2016 - South Africa’s youth showed tremendous skill and talent as the first day of the SA Level 2 Regional Age Group Swimming Championships in Cape Town and Johannesburg kicked off last night.

The first session of competition comprised of the 400m freestyle events and at the UWC Swimming Pool in Cape Town, the men’s U11 race was won by Port Elizabeth’s Dennis de Villiers in 4:54.62, while in the 12 year old age group, Kyle White, also from Port Elizabeth, took the gold in 5:08.71.

The silver and bronze in the U11 race went to Christian Davidson in 5:02.72 and Kian Claassen in 5:22.59, while Antoni van der Berg and Beurick Kayser came second and third in the 12 year old category in 5:12.83 and 5:19.07, respectively.

Western Cape’s Joshua Scott (13) claimed the gold in his event, winning in 4:55.01 ahead of Adriaan Viljoen (5:00.56) and Kirsten Bester (5:01.02), while the 14 year category was won by Ryan Chandler in 4:34.72 and 15-18 gold went to Cape Town’s Kurt Rautenbach in 4:25.43, with Jeffrey Crouse (4:28.07) and Brady Samuels (4:40.85) coming in second and third respectively.

The ladies from the Eastern Cape won three events on the opening evening, Jenna Biddulph winning the U11 category in 5:10.15 while Megan Horton came out on top in the 12 age group event and 13 year old Hannah Counihan took the gold in her race in 5:06.16.

Iane Marx (5:12.21) and Rose Williamson (5:22.02) took the silver and bronze in the U11 race, with Johanna Freers (5:14.11) and Liv Etzold (5:21.97) finishing in second and third place in the 12 year old category, while Lana Janson (5:09.07) and Tasneen Ebrahim (5:09.41) were second and third in the 13 year old event.

In the 15-18 age group race, the gold went to Cape Town’s Caitlin Sleet (18) in 4:52.20 ahead of Chelsea Mills in 4:56.74 and Frances Herholdt in 5:02.39, with Cape Town winning another gold in the 14 year old category in the form of Joey Carollissen in 4:54.78 followed by Sophie Rodseth in 5:02.26 and Bella Strydom in 5:02.71.

Johannesburg’s Ellis Park Swimming Pool saw the fastest win of the night when 18 year old Christiaan Jacobsz from Tshwane sped to the gold in a phenomenal 4:25.38, ahead of Janco Rademeyer (16) in 4:32.62 and Christian Kriel (16) in 4:33.36.

Dipping under the five minute mark were Gauteng’s 13 year old Alessandro Trevisan and 14 year old Keegan Haumann, finishing in 4:57.36 and 4:45.69 respectively, while the silver and bronze in those events went to Carl Krause (13) in 4:57.90 and Justin Kim (13) in 5:01.05, as well as Luc van Rooyen (14) in 4:50.71 and Devan Nell (14) in 4:58.57.

The U11 race title went to Namibia’s Mikah Burger in 5:12.90 ahead of Daniel Baker in 5:22.49 and Bernhard van der Walt in 5:26.44, while the 12 year old category gold was claimed by Tuks’ James Smith in 5:14.62 followed by Ruben Glover (5:19.95) and Janno Bouwer (5:20.95).

The Gauteng ladies also showed their talent with Hannah Robertson (11), Hayley Zeller (12), Jenna van Niekerk (13), Ashleigh Munks (14) and Carmen de Clerck (15) all winning their age group races in 5:04.18, 5:03.14, 5:07.89, 4:57.67 and 4:50.22 respectively.

The silver and bronze in the U11 event went to Catherine van Rensburg (5:17.08) and Veronique Rossouw (5:26.70), while Reese Harradine came third in the 12 year old race in 5:18.18.

13 year old Tatum Lomax (5:11.60) and Alia Goedvolk (5:12.71) finished second and third in their category, while Chenay Dateline (5:00.20) and Tyla Panzera (5:00.31) won the silver and bronze in the 14 year age group with the final second and third medals of the evening going to Jordan Giraudeaux (4:53.87) and Melissa Carney (4:58.90) in the 15-18 age group event.

The SA Level 2 Regional Age Group Championships in Cape Town will continue today with the heats starting at 09h00 and the finals beginning at 17h00, while Johannesburg will kick off at 08h30 and the finals at 15h30.

ENDS

For further information please contact:
Swimming South Africa Marketing Manager
Godfrey Monei
079 760 6124

Swimming South Africa is the governing body of aquatics in South Africa.
Its objective is to encourage the practice of aquatic disciplines for all in South Africa with the purpose of promoting swimming as a life skill through Learn To Swim programmes; providing healthy exercise to South Africans of all ages and races; recruiting recreational swimmers to compete in the various competitions; and promoting competition and athlete development to the highest level. Swimming South Africa is kindly supported by SASCOC, National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Arena, Sport & Recreation SA and Rand Water.