Sponsored by Speedo SA & hosted by KZN Aquatics

KZN L1 Provincial swimming champs 2016 took place at Kings Park swimming pool 20-21 February.  Total of 9 medals, 1 silver, 8 Gold and 8 meet records.

KZN L1 Provincial swimming champs: background

February every year is earmarked as the month in which swimmers earn their keep and the time when all hard work starts paying off.  In Kwazulu Natal on the East Coast of South Africa, we have 3 events which are quite important to swimmers:

• Speedo KZN Junior championships held in September every year.
• Speedo KZN Provincial championships – level 2 and 3 registered swimmers have their provincial champs in December every year whereas the Level 0 and level 1 swimmers compete in February every year.
• Swimming South Africa Level 1,2,3 Regional championships normally combined with the National championships in March of every year.  This event earmarks the end of the season and swimmers’ National rankings are published on the SSA website.

In February 2015 aged 7, Monica set 3 new meet records in the Girls 8 & Under age group:

• 50 m Freestyle @ 37:84
• 100 m  Freestyle 1:23:17
• 100 m backstroke @ 1:40:79

Meet format:

Swimmers swim all events at the KZN L1 Provincial swimming champs as timed finals – in other words, there are no heats in the mornings and finals at night time.  The swimmers are divided into a 10 lane timed final heats based on their recorded times in the Swimming South Africa and Kwazulu Natal Aquatics database.  It is, therefore, a rule that all swimmers have to be registered with KZN Aquatics and Swimming South Africa and have recorded times in the database.

Level 1 qualifying times in each age group is also a requirement.  In our case, Monica faced a bit of a problem as she has two level 2 times: the 100 and 200-meter freestyle.  As a result, she was not allowed to compete in these two events regardless of her age (eight-years-old).  We did not mind much as she worked very hard on Breaststroke and Butterfly so our focus was on these two events.

Trophies, medals and points:

The top 10 swimmers score points depending on where they place. At the end of the swim meet the top point scorers at the meet wins a trophy (one for males and one for females) with a trophy for the club with the most points.  Gold, silver and bronze medals are presented to the top 3 swimmers in each age group.

We entered Monica for all strokes and events 8 & Under (excluding the 8 & Under 100-meter freestyle and 10 & Under 200-meter freestyle which she was not allowed to swim due to level 2 qualifying times.)  There was a total of 9 events over 2 days.

The 200-meter breaststroke, backstroke, and individual medley were 10 & under events.

Results KZN L1 Provincial swimming champs 2016:

Total of 10 events over 2 days – 9 medals of which one is silver for the Women 10 & Under 200m backstroke and 8 meet records.  One 10 & Under 4th place in Women 10 & Under 200 m breaststroke.

• Meet records Women 8 & Under:
  • 50 m Breaststroke @ 49:93 – Meet Record, Gold, personal best (2014 @ 50.19)
  • 100 m Backstroke @ 1:33:02 – Meet record and gold (2014 MR @ 1:46:35)
  • 100 m Butterfly @ 1:53:33 – Meet record & gold (2014 MR @ 2:00:77)
  • 100 m Breaststroke @ 1:47:36 – Meet record and gold, personal best (2014 MR @ 1:52:06)
  • 50 m Backstroke @ 43:23 – Meet record and gold (2011 MR @ 43:58)
  • 50 m Butterfly @ 43:30 – Gold
  • 50 m Freestyle @ 36:57 – Meet record and gold (2011 MR @ 37:96)
• Meet records Women 10 & Under:
  • 200 m Breaststroke – 4th place meet record @ 3:46:95 – (top 4 all set new meet records) – (2014 MR @ 3:51:31)
  • 200 Backstroke – Silver meet record @ 3:16:86 – (top 3 set new MR – 2014 MR @ 3:33:35)
  • 200 m Individual medley – Gold medal and the first time Monica won a Women 10 & Under event in a time of 3:18:16

• Trophy for the female swimmer with the most points:
  Monica placed third in this part of the awards section with a total of 113 points. Second place had 127 points and first place 128. The other swimmers were allowed to swim 12 events vs Monica’s 10 events due to her level 2 times for the 100 and 200-meter freestyle.

Swimming South Africa has a rule, which states that swimmers under 10 are encouraged to swim Level 1 until they reach the age of 10.  Level 2 Age group starts with 11 & Under events.We would like to keep Monica at level 1 for another year or so in order for her to grow and mature as the level of competition intensifies as the swimmers move up in the age groups.

This might, however, be the last time that Monica will be able to swim in the KZN L1 Provincial swimming champs as she already has 2 Level 2 times.  We would have to wait for the new season which starts on 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2017 to see how many level 2 times she swims before September 2016 as it will indicate whether she has to swim the KZN L2 Provincial championships in December 2016.

We are awaiting official results on the Swimmersden web site.