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Ellina Mhlanga
Sports Reporter
WITH the National Senior Championships approaching, Harare Amateur Swimming have named their provisional team for the meet expected to take place in February next year.
Harare are the hosts for the national championships to run from February 18 to 22 at Les Brown Pool.
They have named a provisional team of more than 100 swimmers they believe will carry on the dominance the province has enjoyed over the years as they also have the numbers compared to other provinces.
HAS public relations officer Shingirai Mtetwa said the selected swimmers will continue working with their club coaches ahead of the competition and they are confident of another good show from the team.
“Now we are preparing for the nationals. There is no stopping of training. We continue training and the swimmers still train with their club coaches, we don’t have a coach for the provincial, they just stay with their coaches.
“We do expect to win the nationals. We have the numbers as well as the quality of swimmers.
“The Les Brown Pool is in good condition as we have been using it all along, so we just have to keep maintaining it,” said Mtetwa.
Paige van der Westhuizen will captain the girls section. She will be deputised by Chenyere Mgbemena. The boys’ captain is Carl Kaziboni and Ryan Franceys comes in as the vice-captain.
To make the team one has to participate in at least two seeded galas staged by the province as well as the provincial championships.
“Generally the swimmers must have participated in at least two seeded galas and also in Harare Senior Championships. And we have six seeded galas, so they should at least have participated in two of those.
“Another (requirement) is all swimmers who have qualified for (South Africa) level two will automatically be selected. This is because participation at nationals is a requirement for tour participation provided that they have met all other criteria, which is the two seeded galas,” Mtetwa said.
Harare already has a number of swimmers that have qualified for the events in South Africa and will take advantage to gauge their preparations and improve their times as well.
“Nationals give swimmers the opportunity to make better times. Some will be looking for SA Junior or SA Senior times and this is an opportunity to better their times as the gala is more competitive than provincial championships,” said Mtetwa.
The swimmers were selected from the province’s clubs — Sharks, Pirates, Otters, Spartans and Highlands – following the provincial gala a few weeks ago.
Highlands provided the bulk of the team.
They were the overall winners of the HAS Senior Championships, followed by Sharks, who also have a number of their swimmers making the provincial team as well as Spartans, who came third.
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