The Tuks swimmers continued their dominance of the USSA gala over the weekend in Port Elizabeth by winning overall for the second consecutive year.
The men’s and women’s teams were also victorious in their respective competitions. It should be no surprise that the Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Tatjana Schoenmaker's, victory in the 200m-breaststroke was the best individual performance judged by Fina standards.
Rocco Meiring (TuksSwimming head coach) said Schoenmaker’s winning time was not close to her best time, but he reiterated that at USSA it is never about swimming fast times.
“It is all about points, the more, the better. Swimmers will ‘bleed’ to ensure a team victory. Most swimmers competed in six individual events in the four sessions and not just the events they train for. I think USSA might possibly be the toughest local gala.”
Apart from winning the 200m-breaststroke Schoenmaker was also victorious in the 50m and 100m-breaststroke events as well as winning the 200m individual medley. She was second in the 800m and 100m freestyle-events.
Nathania van Niekerk (Tuks) who also represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games was the women’s top points’ scorer. She won all three the backstroke events (50m, 100m and 200m) and was also victorious in the 200m and 400m freestyle-events. She was second in the 200m butterfly.
Ross Hartigan (Tuks) ended up being the top male swimmer. He the 1500m-freestyle, 200m-butterfly, 400m individual medley as well as the 400m-freestyle. He was third in the 200m-freestyle.
Meiring admits to being quite impressed by Hartigan’s performance.
“He seems to be a late developer. During the recent South African Short Course Championships, I saw that he is starting to swim with greater confidence. I think he might be someone to watch in the future.”
2015 was the last time that Tuks did not win overall at USSA’s. The team lost out to Maties. It was the first time in eight years that Tuks lost.
What excites Meiring is the way the Tuks swimmers managed to increase their winning margin. Last year they managed to beat Maties by a mere 6.5 points. Over the weekend the winning margin was more than 200 points.
Tuks scored 1339.5 points. Maties were second with 1108 points and Northwest Pukke third with 905 points.
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