Seven records at Pupkewitz Schools Gala

Seven new records were set at the Pupkewitz Schools Gala over the weekend.

The various heats were highly competitive, with six different swimmers setting new records while, Windhoek Gymnasium’s u20 boys’ relay team also broke a record.

In the girls’ u13 50m breaststroke, Roze van Wyk won the gold medal in 38.12 seconds, which was more than a second faster than Christine Briedenhann’s previous record of 39.36 seconds set 17 years ago.

In the boys’ u13 50m butterfly, Oelof Badenhorst set a new record of 32.20, which broke Jose Canjulo’s record of 32.45 set in 2017.

Second-placed Patrick Durand also came close to Canjulo’s former record with a time of 32.71.

In the boys’ u17 category, Lorenzo Esterhuizen set a new 50m backstroke record of 28.46, which broke Nicolai Fleming’s 2014 mark of 29.09, while Nathan Bock set a new 50m breaststroke record of 31.26 to break Ronan Wantenaar’s 2017 record of 31.62.

The boys’ u17 butterfly saw a great race with the top three swimmers all breaking the former mark of 27.07, set by Lorenzo Esterhuizen last year.

Rodney Feris won gold in 26.50, Nathan Bock came second in 26.64, and Esterhuizen came third in 26.87 seconds.

In the boys’ u20 50m butterfly, Luke Beukes took almost a second off Bernard Theron’s 2015 record of 26.77, with a new record of 25.90, while second-placed Michael Bauernschmitt also broke the old record with a time of 26.71 seconds.

In the boys’ u20 200m freestyle relay, the Windhoek Gymasium team of Nathan Bock, Michael Bauernschmitt, Liam Kinnaird and Luhan van Dyk took nearly five seconds off the previous record of 1:47.76 with a new record of 1:42.97.

Second-placed St Georges also broke the former mark with a time of 1:46.41.

Several other good performances came close to breaking records.

In the girls’ u13 50m butterfly, Van Wyk won gold in 32.34, just off Briedenhann’s 2008 record of 31.94, while Ainoa Naukosho won the girls’ u15 butterfly with a time of 31.52, coming within a second of Kiara Schatz’s 2014 record of 30.78.

In the girls’ u17 50m butterfly, Madison Bergh came close to Monica Dahl’s long-standing record of 30.21, with a winning time of 30.60, while in the boys u11 50m backstroke, Guoxuan Huang won gold in 38.16, coming close to Oelof Badenhorst’s record of 37.47, which was set last year.

In the boys’ u13 50m breaststroke, Oelof Badenhorst won gold in 38.22, coming close to Jose Canjulo’s record of 37.76 set in 2017.

Second-placed Ben Brown was just over a second off Canjulo’s record with a time of 38.80.

In the boys’ u15 50m freestyle, Jeremy Musati came within a second of Rodney Feris’ record of 25.97 with a winning time of 26.94.

The boys’ u17 50m freestyle saw a great race with all three medallists coming within a second of Nicolai Fleming’s record of 24.82.

Nathan Bock won gold in 25.10, Rodney Feris came second in 25.30 and Esterhuizen came third in 25.65.

In the boys’ u20 50m freestyle, Beukes came close to Xander Skinner’s 2016 record of 23.58 with a winning time of 23.82.

The Pupkewitz Foundation sponsored the gala with an amount of N$16 000, with the top primary and high schools each receiving N$4 000.

In Windhoek, the primary school category was hotly contested, with Deutsche Höhere Privatschule (537 points) just beating St Paul’s College (518) to the prize, while Holy Cross Convent came third on 292 points.

Windhoek Gymnasium won the high school category with 210 points, followed by St Paul’s on 197 and Windhoek International School on 161.

At Oranjemund, Oranjemund Private School won the combined team competition with a total of 803, followed by Garibams on 329 and Oranjemund Private Schoool on 198.

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