By Gareth Duncan in Lusaka, Zambia
Team South Africa’s swimming team completed their run at the Zone VI Games with a 57-medal haul.
The swimmers outdid themselves, winning 57 out of a possible 58 medals in the pool. This included a maximum of 32 gold finishes and 25 new tournament records.
This gives South Africa a great platform to beat the 105-medal count they achieved at the last Zone VI Games in Swaziland two years ago.
‘We exceeded our prediction of 50 medals,’ swimming team manager Trevor Teegler told RoadtoRio.co.za. ‘We have set the benchmark for the whole South African squad, and hopefully the other athletes can be just as successful.’
The finds of this tournament were Reynard Wessels (seven gold), Neil de Villiers (five gold), Jarred Crous (three gold) and Kayla Ferreira (six gold and one silver). Kelly Gunnell also added four gold to the three medals she picked up at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man.
All the women’s and men’s relay teams – the 4x50m freestyle, the 4x100m freestyle and the 4x100m medley – won their respective final races too.
The swimmers return to South Africa on Tuesday afternoon.