200 to grace swimming champs

MORE than 200 swimmers are expected to converge at Les Brown Pool complex for the Senior National Championships set for this month, writes Ellina Mhlanga.
The championships will run from February 17 to 21 and will feature Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Manicaland, Midlands and Mashonaland Country Districts.
The national championships follow the provincial competitions, which were used for the selection of teams.
Zimbabwe Aquatics Union secretary, Mary Kloppers, said the registration of swimmers was already in progress and will be closed on February 16, a day before the competition starts.
“Some of the provinces had their provincial championships in December in 2010. Registration closes on Wednesday (next week),” said Kloppers.
Kloppers said they expect a tough competition as the national championships have continued to grow over the years.
“Gauging by the amount of records that are constantly being broken, one can safely say the competition is getting stiffer every year for the top spots among those swimmers who take their sport seriously,” she said.
Mashonaland are the defending champions and have already selected a 91-member team that will represent them in the competition.
The team was selected last month during the Mashonaland Junior championships and they will be pinning their hopes on some of their outstanding swimmers who include James Lawson, Nicholas Burnett and Sloane Marshall, Chad Idensohn and Lebo Ngwenya.
Lawson has been doing well in both local and international events over the past years.
He set a new Zimbabwean junior records in the 50m breaststroke (31.83seconds) and in the 200m (2:20.97).
Last year he was part of the swimming team that represented the country in the Zone Six Youth Games held in Swaziland.
Lawson, Burnett, Marshall and Idensohn are also in the team that will take part in the Top Age Group Level Three swimming competition scheduled for South Africa next month.