St Andrew’s College U14 swimmer, Oliva Lange, continues to break school records in the pool. He was recently part of a group of Grahamstown swimmers who took part in the Swimming South Africa Level 3 Championships gala in Cape Town.
He won gold in the 200m breaststroke event, also swimming a Junior Nationals Qualification time. Winning in a time of 2.44.09, Lange finished well ahead of his competitors.
He won silver medals in the 100m breaststroke (also with a Junior Nationals Qualification time) and the 50m breaststroke, with a time of 1.16.60 and 35.19 respectively. Lange’s 100m and 200m breaststroke times were considerably faster, taking his times way below the Level 3 entry times by swimming Junior National qualification times.
Lange was very excited to be part of such an event. “Being there was really an amazing experience, being able to compete in such a diverse atmosphere of people and to win gold in that way was just an awesome accomplishment for me. It has also taught me that wherever you come from doesn’t matter, what matters is if u are willing to put everything in to it, said Lange.
Lange recently broke all three St Andrew’s records that were swum in 2011 by current Olympian swimmer Ralph Goveia. Lange was thus awarded his colours for swimming at a recent school assembly.
“Oliva is a young swimmer who is relatively small in stature but what he lacks in height he makes up in determination,” said DSG Swimming Coach Sheena Price.
“Oliva has only really swum in a structured programme these past few months in his grade 8 year with each gala we had new goals. Oliva has a good all round stroke variety but shows great promise as a breast stroke swimmer particularly in the 200m distance. I have no doubt that Oliva will start the new season with a better understanding of how to pace himself in each of the 100 and 200 distances and therefore be a great contender in the Nationals next season,” said Price.
Photo: Supplied
