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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN swimmers, Denilson Cyprianos and Brett Jones are set to participate at the 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series Westmont event starting tomorrow at the FMC Natatorium at Ty Warner Park in Westmont, United States of America (USA).
The event is scheduled to end on Saturday and the duo will be the only Zimbabweans taking part in the prestigious event. Cyprianos and Jones attended school in Bulawayo before they went to the USA where they have been studying and also doing well in the pool.
Cyprianos, a former Christian Brothers College (CBC) head boy will compete in the 100-metre and 200-metre backstroke while Jones, a former Petra College student will take part in the 50-metre freestyle and 50-metre butterfly events.
The event is organised by USA Swimming and also the official national organisation that selects and trains athletes for international competitions including the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.
The competition brings swimmers from all around the world to see who will lead the lanes in the Midwest as the third event in the series.
In February, the 20-year-old Cyprianos continued to showcase his skill in the pool after he wrapped up yet another successful weekend during the League Summit in Minnesota. Cyprianos, on scholarship at Carson-Newman University competed in three events, which were the 100-metre backstroke where he finished with the sixth fastest time, 1650 freestyle and finished with a solid second place in the men’s 200 yards backstroke, with just 0,18 split seconds off the gold medal and setting a school record.
His time also qualified him for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) B as he continues with his impressive form in the USA. His relay team also set a school record in the 200-metre free relay.
Apart from making the NCAA B cut, he also qualified for the National Invitation Tournaments (NITs) which will be held in two weeks’ time.
His counterpart, the 20-year-old Jones at St Ambrose University is a member of the record-holding 200m freestyle relay team (1:23:74) set in 2021 and earned an All-American honourable mention at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Nationals in 2022.
Meanwhile, Swimming Zimbabwe’s team that is set to participate at the South African Senior National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha starting tomorrow has left the country.
The team is headlined by Olympian Donata Katai and consists of 14 swimmers with Harare and Bulawayo dominating the list. Zimbabwe Swimming chairperson, Zanele Nkomazana will be the team manager while Masi Adi Takaedza is the coach. — @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter