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Ellina Mhlanga

Sports Reporter

IT was another good day for Sharks swimmers on Saturday as they came out tops at the Harare Amateur Swimming Fifth Seeded Gala.

They had a combined team score of 1 050 at Les Brown on Saturday.

Despite resting most of their swimmers, in preparation of the upcoming Senior Harare Championships this coming weekend, Sharks were tops.

Sharks coach, Kathy Lobb, said while there have been some encouraging performances by the swimmers, there is still room for improvement.

“We have got some good (times) and some bad times. When I say bad they are not where they should be,’’ said Lobb.

“It’s just been incredibly difficult to train, I am now only able to train at 5pm, which means the kids are only getting home at 7pm, which is not easy.’’

Although Saturday’s outcome will spur the swimmers, ahead of the provincial competition, Lobb would have wanted more time with the swimmers to ensure they get the best results.

“I am not 100 percent sure how we are going to do it, we just got to take it as it comes.

“We have done as much training as we have been allowed but, obviously, more training should have been done.

“But, we haven’t been able to because we can’t get into the school pools.

“So, we are just taking this one as it comes. My swimmers will mostly be swimming through because we will be working towards the nationals rather than the provincial championships, that’s our main aim,” said Lobb.

The likes of Donata Katai, Paul Mwipikeni and Vhenekai Dhemba have already qualified for next year’s South Africa Junior Championships. The championships in the neighbouring country are one of the competitions, local swimmers look forward to but have to make the qualifying times to be part of the meet.

With several competitions lined up, between now and next year, there is still time for more to qualify.

Highlands also had a good day, coming second behind Sharks, with a combined score of 784. They also rested most of their swimmers ahead of Saturday’s gala.

Some of their leading swimmers who took part on Saturday include Paige van der Westhuizen and Chinyere Mgbemena.

They came first and second in the women’s 17 years and over 400m freestyle in 4 minutes 57.08seconds and 5minutes 31.05seconds.

It was the same scenario in the women 15-to-16 years 50m butterfly where Tanatsirwa Chitsurura was the first to touch the wall in 32.63seconds.

Savannah Robinson was second in 36.95 seconds. The club’s manager Shireen Ramajan said they were looking forward to the provincial championships.

“Most of the squad rested this past weekend but, in terms of HAS Championships, our kids have been training hard for this event and are hoping to achieve good times.

“We hoped to get more hours in the water but Covid-19 restrictions have affected our training,” said Ramajan.

Pirates Zimbabwe and Dorado Swim Club were third and fourth.

Harare Otters finished fifth.