Warnes stars in Pietermaritzburg
Rene Warnes took her medal tally to five golds after an amazing afternoon where she raced to three victories to end on a high note at the SA Short Course Swimming Championships held at the GC Jolliffe Pool in Pietermaritzburg.
Warnes (Seagulls) had won the women’s 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly before the final day and added the 100m butterfly, 200m IM and 200m freestyle titles on Sunday.
The 21-year-old had to survive a strong challenge from Tayla Lovemore (Seals) in the 100m butterfly, clocking 1:01,77 to win by 0,25sec while Tarryn Els (PE Amateur) took the bronze in 1:02,78.
Warnes then had to come from behind in the 200m IM later as Jolandi Els (Kovsies) open up a lead after the 50m breaststroke leg, racing on to win in a respectable 2:15,52 with Els not too far off the pace in 2:17,15 – the bronze medal going to Lindsay McLoed (Action) in 2:22,59.
It was in the 200m freestyle where Warnes was out on her own, winning her fifth title over the four days in 2:02,19 – well ahead of the chasing pack in Carmel Billson (Action) in 2:07,28 and Taneal Baptiste (Players) in 2:07,99.
“I want to concentrate on the 200m butterfly and 400m IM this season and see if I can be more competitive internationally,” said Warnes afterwards.
It was a big night for Neil de Villiers (Tuks) as well as he rose to the occasion to break the magical 2-minute barrier in the men’s 200m backstroke, clocking an exciting 1:58,35 to beat Olympian Charl Crous (Seagulls) in 2:00,28 and Paul van Achterbergh (Westville) in 2:00,30.
“I am really pleased with this result as I have been on two minutes for two years now, so going well under my personal best is just amazing,” said De Villiers.
In fact, De Villiers had earlier been involved in a great battle in the 200m IM – challenging the younger Joshua Steyn (Tuks) who eventually took the title in a fast 2:02,05 to win by 0,23sec. Van Acterbergh was also in that tussle to take third place in 2:03,11.
In the opening events, it was the women’s 50m freestyle to start the finals off to an excellent start with Lahesta Kemp (Players) racing to a fast 25,33sec dash to add to her 100m title. The men’s 50m freestyle followed and Luke Pendock (Seagulls) got everything right this time to stay ahead to the finiah and clock another solid 22,66sec – edging out Nico Meyer (Tuks) by just 0,30sec with Reynard Wessels (Bloemfontein Otters) third on 23,09sec.
Jared Pike (Southern Dolphins) continued with his fine form as he raced to a second gold in the men’s 50m breaststroke, clocking 27,98sec to enjoy a reasonable gap from the challenging group with Lee Geeson (Westville) doing well for the silver in 28,66sec and Adam Stevenson (Aquabear) third in 28,75sec.
Olympian Suzaan van Biljon made it a clean sweep in the women’s breaststroke events by taking the 100 metres in an improving 1:08,52 with Seals duo Tara Nicholas (1:10,16) and Claire Conlon (1:10,97) taking the minor medals.
Janneke Malan (Univ of Western Cape) had great finishes in the women’s 50m and 200m backstroke to earn both gold medals – clocking 29,34sec in the sprint and a sound 2:14,36 for the longer swim.
Westville 16-year-olds Daniel Ronaldson and Tristan Doyle sounded a stern warning to the older swimmers with two encouraging performances. Both lead from the start of their respective races to win well – Ronaldson taking the 200m butterfly in a solid 2:01,53 while Doyle added the 1500m freestyle title with an excellent 15:56,41 to his 800m gold earlier in the tournament.
(File Photo:Gallo Images)
- Wayne Riddin
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