St David's Marist Inanda did the best of the local schools participating in two 10-school galas in Durban over the weekend.
A number of boys schools went down to KwaZulu-Natal, taking advantage of the Midmar Mile weekend to swim in galas on Friday night and Saturday morning, play waterpolo matches on Saturday afternoon, and swim the Midmar Mile on their way home on Sunday.
St David's came fourth in the Westville Invitation gala on Friday and followed this up with another fourth place at the annual Alan Burt 10-school gala which alternates between Durban and Johannesburg every second year and which was swum at Kings Park this time.
Westville Invitational Gala: 1 Westville A 256; 2 Grey College 199; 3 Clifton College 198; 4 DHS 174; 5 St David's Marist Inanda 166; 6 Maritzburg College 126; 7 St Benedict's 94; 8 Northwood 77; 9 Glenwood 72; 10 Westville B 67.
Alan Burt 10-Schools Gala: 1 Westville 289; 2 Kearsney College 254; 3 Pretoria Boys' High 218; 4 St David's Marist Inanda 165; 4 DHS 165; 6 Maritzburg College 139; 7 St Stithians 135; 8 King Edward VII 126; 9 Glenwood 83; 10 Parktown 56.
The interhigh galas for the boys schools take place over the next two weeks.
The interhigh relay gala is at St Stithians next Wednesday, with the interhigh for individual events at Pretoria Affies on Wednesday, February 25.
On the co-ed scene, the annual meeting of the top state schools takes place at Rand Park next Thursday.
The other schools participating are Northcliff, Bryan-ston, Fourways and Hyde Park. Bryanston and Hyde Park are replaced by the two Crawford Schools, Benmore and Lonehill, for the A league interhigh at the Delville Pool one week later.
lThe last Central Gauteng Level 0 gala before the end-of-season championships was held at Delville on February 9 when over 60 Level 1 qualifying times were posted, writes Liz Scott.
In some events, there were multiple qualifiers for Level 1. These were the girls 50m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle, where as many as 53 Level 1 qualifying times were recorded.
Tyla Both (10) of Waterborn, won three events, all in Level 1 qualifying times. These were backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Three other swimmers won two events each, both in Level 1 qualifying marks. They were Matt Rosenthal (Waterborn, 50 free and breast), Amy Carruthers (Linrand, 50 free and back) and Jenny Lincoln from Mandeville Dolphins (50 breast and free).
The swimmers who qualified for Level 1 should register at this level for the new season that commences on May 1 as there are no more Level 1 meets, except for the championships.
However, the Level 0 championships take place next month at Delville pool and all Level 0 swimmers are eligible to swim these championships.