Swimming Captain, Timothy Sates being handed the winning trophy by Mr T Kershaw
Westville Boys’ High swimmers have had another outstanding year having won the Westville Interprovincial Invitational Gala and the Alan Burt Invitational Gala the previous weekend.
These two Galas are considered to be the top relay galas in the country. Furthermore their long distance swimmers had once again excelled at Midmar Mile with Jordan Le Clos and Joshua Dannhauser finishing in the top 10 in the men’s race.
What was a little disappointing, was that the KZN Top 8 Gala which pits the top boys’ schools in the province against each other, had to be cancelled up at Hilton College because of bad weather.
A new twist to the D & D Gala this year was the inclusion by Glenwood of a number of swimmers from India who are currently contracted to be trained by SA Coach Graham Hill and who are boarding and schooling at Glenwood. These swimmers are being groomed for future international competition, and the Westville squad were rather uneasy about how they would fare against them.
The first events of the evening were the 4 x 50 meters Freestyle relays. Westville won four of the five age group races, only losing the U16 event to Glenwood. Clifton College was placed second in the U14, U15 and U19 races with Kearsney picking up a second in the U17 race.
The breast stroke events were much more keenly contested by the other schools. Never the less, Westville managed to win three of the five races, losing the U16 and U17 events to Glenwood.
Westville then kicked into top gear, winning 13 of the final 16 events. Glenwood managed to claim the U16 Backstroke, U6 Butterfly and under 16 Medley – otherwise, it was all one way traffic for Westville. The Highways giants ended up winning 20 of the 26 races with their U14, U15 and U19 age groups unbeaten.
Special mention must be made of the Westville B team which this year competed without being allowed to score points. School politics have dictated that this team no longer has its positions in each race officially counted. This is in order to ensure that the Westville B team does not embarrass some of the other competing schools’ A teams. This team has always has finished in the middle of the pack as they did last Thursday night.
Final results:
- WBHS 192
- Glenwood 162
- Clifton 158
- Kearsney 153
- Northwood 98
- DHS 86