Day 02 of the SA National Junior Age Group Swimming Championships

Luan Grobbelaar (17) raced to a FINA Junior Qualification time in the 100m backstroke with a golden 57.32 ahead of Jack Oliver (18) in 57.71 and Henju Duvenhage (17) in 57.93, while in the ladies’ 16 year old category race, it was Olivia Nel and Tailyn Seyffert that added their names to the qualification list in 1:04.04 and 1:04.30, respectively, with the bronze going to Kerryn Herbst in 1:05.82.

Seyffert also went on to win the 50m breaststroke in 33.36.

Dune Coetzee (16) continued her FINA Junior World Championships preparations with a gold medal in the 200m butterfly and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle both in qualification times of 2:12.32 and 2:02.08, while Hannah Robertson (14) added the 200m freestyle to her Qualification times when she topped her race in 2:05.65.

Rebecca Meder (16) and Aimee Canny (15) were more than happy with their gold wins in the 200m freestyle, both clocking FINA Junior Qualification times of 2:02.01 and 2:04.87, respectively, while the gold in the 17-18 age group went to Kate Beavon (18) in 2:05.53.

Ethan du Preez (15) and Ruan Breytenbach (16) added the 200m butterfly FINA Junior qualification times to their tally, winning the gold and bronze in 1:58.66 and 2:04.37, while Tiago Cordeiro (18) claimed the silver in 2:02.70.

Luca Holtzhausen (15) grabbed the gold in the 100m backstroke in 59.75 and the 200m freestyle with a FINA Junior Qualification time of 1:53.02 and later on managed a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in 30.35 to Matthew Sates’ 30.19 and Jaiden Staines’ 30.36, while Sates took home the silver in the freestyle race in 1:55.17.

Pretoria’s Ethan Spieker (16) was fast off the block in the 200m freestyle, clocking a FINA Junior Qualification time of 1:53.71 to the 1:53.80 requirement, while Botswana’s James Freeman won his respective age group freestyle race with a Qualification time of 1:52.95.

Kian Keylock (13) walked away with an outstanding four gold medals, topping the 200m butterfly in 2:16.74, the 100m backstroke in 1:01.95, the 200m freestyle in 2:04.62 and the 50m breaststroke in 31.03, while Andre van der Heever (12) and Pieter Coetzee (14) won their respective 100m backstroke and 50m breaststroke events in 34.02 and 1:06.13 and 59.45 and 30.79, respectively.

Van der Heever also went on to win a silver in the 200m freestyle in 2:13.67 ahead of Wilbert Vorster in 2:15.31 and behind Ivan Hart in 2:12.44, while the gold in the 14 age group race when to Ryan Zasas in 2:00.30, followed by Leshen Pillay in 2:00.67 and Reece Johnson in 2:01.10.

Jacob Armon (16) won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in 30.54 ahead of Luke Slabber (16) in 30.66 and behind Luan de Waal (16) in 29.57, while Armon also bagged the bronze in the 100m backstroke in 1:00.23 behind of Dylan Wright in 59.83 and Zimbabwe’s Denilson Cyprianos in 59.72 and another silver in the 200m freestyle in 1:56.58.

In the 17-18 age group 50m breaststroke, the medal podium consisted of Adrian Robinson in 29.16, Joshua Hamilton in 29.41 and Ronan Wantenaar in 29.52, while on the ladies’ side, it was Hanim Abrahams (17) in 32.75, Bianca Opperman (17) in 32.77 and Tahlia Botha (18) in 33.19.

The 200m butterfly saw Emma Christianson (14) win with a time of 2:22.16 ahead of Leigh McMorran (14) in 2:22.26 and Luchelle Oosthuizen (14) in 2:22.93 with Christianson also bagging a silver medal in the 100m backstroke in 1:06.16.

In the girls’ U12 100m backstroke, Milla Drakopoulos, Francisca van Rooyen and Tori Voke claimed the top three places in 1:11.50, 1:12.69 and 1:12.83, respectively, while the 13 year old age category medal podium comprised of Ruby Dixon (1:07.18), Ane Meier (1:09.18) and Robyn Aaron (1:09.45).

Dixon also won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle, clocking 2:11.11.

The 15 year old age group 100m backstroke winners were Hannah Pearse in 1:05.34, Grace Hudson in 1:05.75 and Sune Liebenberg in 1:06.67, with Megan Tully (1:05.22), Ilinde du Plessis (1:06.11) and Alicia Enslin (1:06.66) claiming the silverware in the 17-18 age group section.

12 year old Kiarah George won the 200m freestyle in 2:18.08 and followed that with a bronze medal winning performance in the 50m breaststroke in 35.98, while the gold, silver and bronze in the 13 age group 50m breaststroke went to Imke Koch in 34.95, Jessica Gardner in 35.12 and Michaela dal Medico in 35.92.

In the ladies’ 14 year old 50m breaststroke, the gold, silver and bronze went to Emma Kuhn in 34.38, Dakota Tucker in 34.64 and Lisa Kleyn in 34.83, while the 15 year old race was won by Lara van Niekerk in 31.04, Paige Brombacher in 33.44 and Kate Meyer in 33.63.

The SA National Junior Age Group Championships will continue tomorrow with the heats starting at 08h30 and the finals beginning at 17h00.

SA Qualifying Times – FINA Junior World Swimming Championships – Day 02:

Hannah Robertson (14) – 400m freestyle – 4:23.44

Hannah Robertson (14) – 200m freestyle – 2:05.65

Dune Coetzee (16) – 400m freestyle – 4:15.02

Dune Coetzee (16) – 200m freestyle – 2:02.08

Dune Coetzee (16) – 200m butterfly - 2:12.32

Rebecca Meder (16) – 400m freestyle – 4:19.48

Rebecca Meder (16) – 200m freestyle – 2:02.01

Ethan du Preez (15) – 400m freestyle – 4:00.73

Ethan de Preez (15) – 200m butterfly - 1:58.66

Matthew Sates (15) – 400m freestyle – 4:03.27

Ruan Breytenbach (16) – 400m freestyle – 4:01.37

Ruan Breytenbach (16) – 200m butterfly - 2:04.37

Gavin Smith (16) – 400m freestyle – 4:04.20

Luan Grobbelaar (17) – 100m backstroke – 57.32

Olivia Nel (16) – 100m backstroke – 1:04.04

Tailyn Seyffert (16) – 100m backstroke – 1:04.30

Luca Holtzhausen (15) – 200m freestyle – 1:53.02

Ethan Spieker (16) – 200m freestyle – 1:53.71

Aimee Canny (15) – 200m freestyle – 2:04.87

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Swimming South Africa

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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.