USC Inaugural Spring Short Course Gala
Wow, wow and wow again! After the Border short course gala, where our parents rallied and worked so hard in the tuck shop and on pool deck, we almost thought that it would be hard to top but as usual they managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat and proceeded to make our gala even more spectacular.
We've had SO many compliments from the other clubs and swimmers on our venue, the level of professionalism with which it was run, the decor, the refreshments provided for the officials and for this we have a few people to thank. We were lucky to have Powerade, Mitsubishi and MTN come on board as sponsors and P3 Active and Leisure Wear, sponsor the prize for the raffle. We were also extremely lucky to have Gordon Graham be our announcer for the day and he kept our supporters entertained. Our wonderful committee members, Lisa and Nick Els, Karin and Jean Smit, Charleen and Lester Coetzer, Mandy and Rodney Wanckel, non committee members, Theresa Nienaber, Chantel Peinke, Andre Schoombee, Lionel Poovan who helped set up the venue, do a lot of running around to make this day happen and once again man the Tuck-shop and Karin Crowder, who sold programs and raffle tickets. If there's anyone not mentioned by name, please know that no matter how small your contribution to making this day a success, we sincerely appreciate it, but as we all know, the real stars of the day and the ones our parents worked so hard for are our swimmers who above all expectations, swam exceptionally well once more.
The gala kicked off with mixed 200 m medley relays and our team consisting of Kent Nienaber, Sanchia Poovan, Lesley Blignaut and Blaine Kruger managed to bag the bronze medal. The 14 and under team consisting of Rhys Poovan, Nadia de Kock, Aashiq Raffie and Lesley Blignaut did even better, winning gold with our B team consisting of Kristen Mc Intyre, Kelly Seymour, Alex Goddard and Jordan Ramoo, coming in third place, firmly bagging another bronze putting USC in 2 podium spots.
Our 2 teams made up of (a) Blaine Kruger, James Crowder, Terianne Brown and Paige Riddin and (b) Telana Hugo, Curtis Gericke, Sudesh Pillay and Kiki van Heerden winning the gold and silver spots , respectively.
The little ones didn't disappoint either. The 25m butterfly yielded a winner in little Jordan Hein who showed off his style, showing just how far he's come with his training.
Teri Brown won her race for the 200 IM and our shining stars for 50 Fly were Lesley Blignaut, who won her race in a time of 30.93, Charl Herbst, who won his heat in a time of 30.91, while Curtis Gericke came second in his heat and Aashiq Raffie and Luke Coetzer finished third in theirs.
100 m breast stroke went well for our swimmers as well, many of them making pb's with Jordan Ramoo and James Crowder winning in their respective age groups. Little Kent Nienaber and Rhys Poovan proved to be the bosses of the 50 backstroke by winning their races, while Telana Hugo and Kiki van Heerden finished second and third respectively. I have to add here that Kent won podium positions for each and every swim at the gala. Well Done Kent!
I'm not going to carry on the running commentary on the results any further as they are on the web for all to see, other than to say that Rushen Pillay recorded an astonishing 21 second PB for his 100m IM. This just shows that with a little hard work and determination, amazing things can happen and this is all we strive for.
This is why I simply LOVE this sport. It's absolutely amazing to see where these little kids started, how they develop and where they eventually have the potential to end up.... Aristotle once said, we are what we repeatedly do.... Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Let us make this our motto, let us ALWAYS strive for excellence. GO TIGERS!!!!