Local swimmers shine at Eastern Gauteng Aquatics awards
Eastern Gauteng Aquatics paid tribute to top swimming achievers over the past season at its recently held Annual Awards Breakfast.
The event was well attended by the swimmers themselves, their families, local club coaches and members from Swimming South Africa.
Olympic swimmer and former CBC Old Boys boy, Douglas Erasmus, was also in attendance as a guest speaker.
Open Water Most Improved Swimmer of the Year was awarded to Boksburg Aquatics Saints’ Hein van Tonder, who achieved a bronze medal in the 3km/14-15 year age group as well as finishing ninth overall in the 5km open water events.
The Best Youth Performer at Nationals went to Onyx Swimming Club’s Bryce Skea and Best Performer at senior nationals went to Soul Swimming’s Kade Wood.
The Douglas Erasmus Trophy was shared by Katelyne Green and Daniel Rodwell from The Lynne Semple Swim School in Benoni for the Best Performer at a Development Gala.
The league’s top performers award went to Savannah Mitchell, Kayla Burger and Kyle McKenzie. The trio scored the most points during league galas throughout the season.
Meanwhile, the league’s top club went to the Benoni Swimming Club.
EGA is also fully committed to the development of the sport and results of the province’s efforts in development were shown in three swimmers from development clubs.
Top male and female development awards went to Mosopetseng Chiloane and Samukelisiwe Mkonyeni from Thokoza Swimming Club respectively, while Reiger Park Swimming Club’s Rene Parker took the Most Improved Swimmer in this category.
She took 19.52 seconds off her 50m freestyle event in only two months of competitive swimming.
Other award winners:
Hein van Tonder received The Lois Bassett Trophy for the Most Improved Swimmer of the Year by finishing his season in qualifying for youth nationals and setting a new EGA record for the 1 500m freestyle event.
