Swimmers impress

THE Northern Cape Aquatic Sport Association’s (NOCASA) sprint gala was held in Upington and saw 450 swimmers from South Africa and Namibia in action.

The Namibia Swimming Union (NASU) sent a strong team of 81 swimmers to compete at the gala, with all clubs represented. It was the biggest swim team to compete outside Namibia since 2000.The NASU Invitation team achieved second place overall.There were great achievements at the gala with the best performance by Christine Minders ,16, who swam the 100 m freestyle in 1: 02,27 seconds.She qualified for the 9th FINA Short-Course World Championships in England next April.Quinton Delie, 16, broke two Namibian records in the 200 m Individual Medley (2:19.07 seconds) and 50 m Backstroke (29.93 seconds) in the age group 16 and under.Top age-group swimmers like Corinna Wahl, Vera Adrian, Christine Minders, Nadine Arlove, Issabella Buckendorf, Edith Wasserfall and Danielle Lindemeier dominated their events and walked away with a large number of medals.Cobus Visser, Benjamin Buckendorf and Henri Olivier swam very well and were amongst the medal positions in their events.Among the junior swimmers, medals were won by Alexander Skinner, Jean-Paul Burger, Rassie Barnard, Theo Visser, Godiva Beukes, Asha Deacon, Aodhan Mooney, Keelan Mooney, Albert Van Der Merwe and Nic Deacon.The next gala will be the ‘Dash for Cash’ at Swakopmund on December 21.It was the biggest swim team to compete outside Namibia since 2000.The NASU Invitation team achieved second place overall.There were great achievements at the gala with the best performance by Christine Minders ,16, who swam the 100 m freestyle in 1: 02,27 seconds.She qualified for the 9th FINA Short-Course World Championships in England next April.Quinton Delie, 16, broke two Namibian records in the 200 m Individual Medley (2:19.07 seconds) and 50 m Backstroke (29.93 seconds) in the age group 16 and under.Top age-group swimmers like Corinna Wahl, Vera Adrian, Christine Minders, Nadine Arlove, Issabella Buckendorf, Edith Wasserfall and Danielle Lindemeier dominated their events and walked away with a large number of medals.Cobus Visser, Benjamin Buckendorf and Henri Olivier swam very well and were amongst the medal positions in their events.Among the junior swimmers, medals were won by Alexander Skinner, Jean-Paul Burger, Rassie Barnard, Theo Visser, Godiva Beukes, Asha Deacon, Aodhan Mooney, Keelan Mooney, Albert Van Der Merwe and Nic Deacon.The next gala will be the ‘Dash for Cash’ at Swakopmund on December 21.