PAHS swimmers smash 20 records
SWIMMING Monday afternoon saw the conclusion of Port Alfred High School’s Championship Gala. The programme comprised 102 events and records date back to 1983, when Diane Meyer set a time of 45.90 for the girls’ under-12 50m breaststroke. Since then, Port Alfred has produced top swimmers, such as Leanne Lombard, Springbok Greg Kieck and brotherand-sister team Ashleigh and Michael Gardner.
”It has been a pleasure to see some of the older records go over the last few years. Our squad has worked hard throughout the year and their efforts have paid off,” said head coach Roger Nock.
Port Alfred has its own swimming club now, The Port Alfred Swim Team, which is based at the indoor pool. Here, Sharon Lemmer, Tammy Tinley and Jo Beatt assist and run the development programme for beginners and several school records were broken by these swimmers. In addition, the school has its own programme for development.
Local swimmers who now feature in the list of record holders, are: Nicolien Botha – girls’ U19 100m freestyle; Saffron Tweedie – girls’ U19 100m breaststroke; Robyn Dacombe – girls’ U8 25m freestyle; Connor Bessinger – boys’ U9 50m breaststroke and Luke Lemmer who won the boys’ U19 100m freestyle.
Kate Tinley had a good gala, setting records in the U14 girls’ 100m freestyle, and 50m backstroke. She also set two records in the open division winning the 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly.
William Beatt and Scarlett Tweedie each set five new records: Tweedie dominated the girls’ U11 division, winning the 100m freestyle, I00m individual medley, 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke races. Beatt equally dominated the boys’ U10 division, taking the 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle records.
Some of these swimmers will be heading off to the Level 2 and Level 3 National Championships to be held in Oudtshoorn and Cape Town respectively, during the Easter holidays. CRICKET
The PAHS U8 and U9 teams played a mid-week match against El Shaddai at home and both PAHS teams won. DEBATING
PAHS hosted Selborne College last Thursday. While both the junior and senior teams lost narrowly to the visitors, PAHS’s Gavan Schultz was named best speaker. The debaters look forward to a rematch. HOCKEY
The 1st XI PAHS boys’ hockey team held their own against the St Andrews 4th team in a Makana League fixture. The match ended in a 3-3 draw.
The U16 PAHS boys’ team won their match 2-1 against Kingswood College’s U16D team. RUGBY
Wearing their BUCO and Kowie Toyota sponsored kit for the first time, the PAHS 1st XV participated in the recent Graeme College Rugby Day where they played against Nathaniel Nyaluza Secondary School. Unfortunate mistakes cost PAHS the game 13-18. Coach Ryle Murray commended the team for their good spirit and thanked the supporters who had travelled to Grahamstown. SQUASH
Both Stefan Botha and Lise-Mari Coetzee played in the SA School’s Closed Tournament in Johannesburg. Botha finished 24th in the open boys section while Coetzee finished 14 in the U14 girls section.
The PAHS Juniors played against DSG Juniors, losing 3-2. TENNIS
The girls first team enjoyed a short tour to Port Elizabeth where they were scheduled to play against Pearson High School and Woodridge College. The team lost to Pearson and the game against