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Collin Matiza

THE Peterhouse Group of Schools were yesterday bubbling with pride as they celebrated the stellar performances of two of their swimmers — Villa Gata and Lorraine Njaravaza — during the just-ended Junior Level 2 regional championships in South Africa.

Gata entered six events and made it to three finals as she grabbed two gold medals and recorded several personal best times along the way as she emerged Peterhouse’s most outstanding swimmer at the meet although the times were not immediately available yesterday.

Gata’s first gold medal came in the girl’s 50m breaststroke event where she posted a personal best time. She did the same in the 50m butterfly where she earned the first podium finish with another personal best (PB) time.

She set two more PBs in the 50m and 100m freestyle events.

Gata’s schoolmate Njaravaza was also in good form as she entered six events and made it to all the finals where she collected four silver medals and a bronze.

She set a PB when coming second in the 100m freestyle event and picked up her first silver medal.

Njaravaza  bagged another silver medal with another PB in the 50m backstroke before settling for fifth place in the 200m freestyle event.

She did not stop there as she won a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly with another PB.

She moved a gear up in the 100m butterfly where she came second and scooped another silver medal followed by another third place in the 50m freestyle.

Njaravaza was also part of three relay teams that won two gold medals and a silver at the same championships.

She was emulated by Gata who was also part of two relay teams that won two gold medals.

Peterhouse has over the past few years been regular visitors to South Africa where they have done well in swimming, boys and girls field hockey, rowing, and rugby.

One of their male swimmers Callum Chisholm was selected to the Zimbabwe swimming team that took part in the South Africa National Junior Swimming Championships in Durban from March 15 to 19.

In March, the school’s boys’ field hockey team travelled to South Africa to take part in the Easter Festival hosted at St Dunstan’s School and Benoni Northern’s Sports Club.

Hilton “The Brick Wall” Mudzamiri got a unanimous team award for his consistency in defence during the tour.

In April, the girls’ field hockey’s first and second teams also toured South Africa for the Fairweather Hockey Festival at Michael House.

Playing some tough games, under difficult weather conditions, but remaining focused and always giving their best, the two teams managed to grind out some good results during this festival.

The festival organiser, Keith Fairweather, complimented the Peterhouse girls, not only on their good manners both on and off the turf, but also on how they worked collectively.

In March, the Peterhouse Boat Club travelled to Pretoria for the South African Rowing Championships which were held from March 1 to 3 at Roodeplaat Dam.

They had a big contingent of 18 girls this year. The girls upped their game and “raced with such determination which was wonderful to see.

The C block girls smashed their singles, coming in either fourth in their heats.

Whilst no one made it through to the semi-finals, for their debut at the South African Championships, the girls did race their hearts out.

They not only raced in the doubles, but also in a quad. The quad made it through to the final which was an achievement for these girls who haven’t even been rowing for very long.

They improved their time by 40 seconds from their heat to the final.

The girls’ junior 15 age group was another popular one for Peterhouse. They had four single scullers in this event, with Mia Hammond heading the way 6 seconds ahead of Dineo Chimphondah. The doubles and quad all had solid races.

There were only two girls in the junior 16 age group. Kara Exton did both the single and the double. Kara’s single time was a respectable 10 seconds behind her piers a year or two older. In the junior 19 girls singles the school was lucky enough to have all six girls accepted in this event. Kaleigh Weeks headed the girls with a fast enough time in her heat to make it through to the semi-finals which, unfortunately, is where her junior championships ended.

Catherine Munro was the next fastest Peterhouse rower in this event. For a few of the girls, the quad was their last race at this prestigious regatta, where they were fortunate enough to row in the smooth and gleaming new boat called “Zambezi”.