adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
PIRATES Zimbabwe swimmer, Jameson Lawson, turned on a remarkable show during the first leg of the Mashonaland Seniors Championships when he amassed eight gold medals at Les Brown pool.The championships, which started on Friday with 198 swimmers taking part, ran over two weekends and the first leg ended on Sunday.
The tourney will resume on Friday and participants are competing in the 12-and-Under, 13 to 14, 15 to 16 and 17-and-over age-groups.
Lawson, who is competing in the 17-and-over age-group, claimed his first medal in the 200m backstroke in 2minutes 24.64 seconds.
He went on to win gold in the 400m individual medley in 5 minutes 25.10 seconds.
The other medals came in the 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle among other events.
Lawson said he is hoping to scoop gold in all the 17 events he is competing in.
“I have been swimming in this gala for many years now and I used to look up to the seniors, now that I am a senior I always try and do everything properly and try to be someone that the little kids coming up can look up to.
“People are swimming fast and it’s been fun. I think we will win, Pirates has more swimmers so we should win.
“I am swimming 17 individual races and I am aiming for 17 gold medals so far I have swum in eight events and I have won eight gold medals, I am on target,” said Lawson.
His performance helped his club Pirates to take a lead in the competition as they were on top of the tables with 697 combined points.
His sister, Natasha, who is also competing in the same age-group in the girls section, weighed in with six medals, including five gold, in the 200m backstroke, 100m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, 200m individual medley and 200m breaststroke.
Natasha said she was happy with her performance.
“I have been finding it (the championships) very good but in the open category there is not that much competition but in the other age groups it’s really good.
“I have not done my best times but as I said, there is less competition. Hopefully, there will be more competition at the National Championships and I can do my best times,” Natasha said.
Other swimmers from Pirates who did well include Chase Onorati and Hollie Stander in the boys and girls sections.
Sharks, who are the defending champions, were in second place with 696.50 points followed by Spartans in third place with 242 points while Harare Otters were fourth with 237 points.
Dorado and Highlands were fifth and sixth with 199 and 113.50 points respectively.
Swimming Board vice-chairperson, Celso Chiang, hailed the swimmers.
“The level of competition is very tough,” said Chiang.
Online Reporter