More records by swimmers at gala

THE Namibian Swimming Union (NASU) hosted a successful short-course gala at the Marlins swimming complex in Windhoek recently.

It was the last short-course gala in a heated pool for 2007 and the swimming competitions will now move to the long-course pools in Olympia and at Western Suburbs. All three Windhoek-based swimming clubs competed at the gala and there were some great performances by the swimmers.A number of personal best times were recorded by swimmers from all clubs and their coaches are optimistic about the rest of the season.Most of the swimmers at the gala will participate at the Level 1, 2 and 3 galas in South Africa during February and March 2008 and achieving the qualifying criteria for participation is the main focus of the coaches.The gala started off well for Juan Lamprecht (Namib Swimming Academy) who set a new record of 52,46 seconds in the 50 m backstroke for boys 8 and under.He bettered the previous best time of Jurg von Alvensleben by 00,31 seconds.Byron Briedenhann from Namib Swimming Academy had a very good day at the pool and set new national short course records for the 50 m freestyle (25.86 sec), 50 m butterfly (27,46 sec) and 100 m freestyle (56,66 sec).Briedenhann is continuing his good form of the last couple of months since the international tour to Italy and has broken 16 national age group and open records in the short-course pool.His older sister Jonay Briedenhann also swam well at the gala and she broke the 50 m backstroke in the 17-18 year old age group as well as the Namibian open record with her time of 32,08 seconds.She also set a new record in the 100 m breaststroke event with a time of 1 min 17,28 seconds.The Namibia Swimming Union has also sent strong teams of swimmers to compete at the Northern Cape Aquatic Sports Association’s (NOCASA) Championships in Upington and the Northern Tigers Championships in Pretoria this week.Swimming is a fast growing sport in Namibia and the excellent results by our top swimmers fuel the enthusiasm of the younger swimmers.The next gala will be on December 21 at Swakopmund.It will be a “Dash for Cash” event where all the top swimmers will compete for cash prizes.All three Windhoek-based swimming clubs competed at the gala and there were some great performances by the swimmers.A number of personal best times were recorded by swimmers from all clubs and their coaches are optimistic about the rest of the season.Most of the swimmers at the gala will participate at the Level 1, 2 and 3 galas in South Africa during February and March 2008 and achieving the qualifying criteria for participation is the main focus of the coaches.The gala started off well for Juan Lamprecht (Namib Swimming Academy) who set a new record of 52,46 seconds in the 50 m backstroke for boys 8 and under.He bettered the previous best time of Jurg von Alvensleben by 00,31 seconds.Byron Briedenhann from Namib Swimming Academy had a very good day at the pool and set new national short course records for the 50 m freestyle (25.86 sec), 50 m butterfly (27,46 sec) and 100 m freestyle (56,66 sec).Briedenhann is continuing his good form of the last couple of months since the international tour to Italy and has broken 16 national age group and open records in the short-course pool.His older sister Jonay Briedenhann also swam well at the gala and she broke the 50 m backstroke in the 17-18 year old age group as well as the Namibian open record with her time of 32,08 seconds.She also set a new record in the 100 m breaststroke event with a time of 1 min 17,28 seconds.The Namibia Swimming Union has also sent strong teams of swimmers to compete at the Northern Cape Aquatic Sports Association’s (NOCASA) Championships in Upington and the Northern Tigers Championships in Pretoria this week.Swimming is a fast growing sport in Namibia and the excellent results by our top swimmers fuel the enthusiasm of the younger swimmers.The next gala will be on December 21 at Swakopmund.It will be a “Dash for Cash” event where all the top swimmers will compete for cash prizes.