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Townsend happy being second
03/04/2008 21:16 - (SA)
Durban - Darian Townsend of KwaZulu-Natal and Arizona University met the requirements of his coach when he finished second behind his American varsity teammate Jean Basson of Central Gauteng in the final of the men's 200m freestyle on the third night of the Telkom South African Aquatic championships in the Kings Park Pool in Durban on Thursday night.
The reason was that after missing by the narrowest of margins in the semi-finals on Wednesday night he made no mistake this time by posting the all-important Olympic qualifying time of 1:48,68 to join Basson as a possible choice for the Beijing Games in China later in the year.
Basson continued his blistering run of success by claiming the SA title, the gold medal and the Olympic qualifier status with his 1:47,79 sec getting him first to the touch pad.
It was a grand effort by the duo who had only arrived back in South Africa from the United States about 24 hours before taking to the Kings Park pool.
William Diering, another of the strong band of swimmers from the Northern Tigers camp, added to the growing list of Olympic claimants with a 2:11,8 qualifier in the men's 200m breaststroke semi-final ahead of Neil Versfeld (KZN) and Cameron van den Burgh (Tigers).
Another stunning swim
Suzaan van Biljon (Northern Tigers) added to her Olympic portfolio with another stunning swim in the semi-finals of the women's 200m breaststroke to lead Jessica Liss of Eastern Province and Tigers Jean-Marie Neethling, sister of South Africa's world beater Ryk, as she posted a 2:26,88 qualifying time.
Limpopo Province provided a top class performance from Leone Vorster as she pipped KZN's Melissa Corfe and Wendy Trot (Western Province) in leading the eight top swimmers out of the semi-final of the women's 200m freestyle in two minutes and 00,27 seconds.
Gerhard Zandberg carried the Tigers flag high in the men's 50m backstroke as he led the pack in the semi-finals with a time that was within sight of the world record of 24,80 set by Thomas Rupprath in Barcelona five years ago.
Zandberg may well have the record in his sights when he competes in the final on Friday night. He completed his semi-final swim in 25,10 which is a mere three-tenths of a second outside the world time.
In the second South African record of the night Lize-Marie Retief also hoisted the Tigers flag as she got in at 58,70 to emerge as the solo claimant of national best in the women's 100m butterfly semi-final. She bettered the old time of 59,17 she shared with Kerri Shaw who was withdrawn from these championships because of her positive drugs test during the Fina Swimming World Cup in Belo Horizonte in Brazil on November 25 last year.
And then Lyndon Ferns, also a Tigers man, got the Beijing qualifying time in the semi-finals of the men's 100m butterfly at 52,70.
The name of Natalie du Toit continues to pop up in amongst the top campaigners in the SA champions in spite of her disability of having lost a leg in a car accident. And in the women's 800 metres freestyle final she was placed third behind SA record holder Wendy Trott (WP) and Kathryn Meaklim (KZN). Trott returned an 8:34:11 time that also added her name to the growing Olympic list.
The Western Province men's 800m freestyle relay team swept in to the record books in the final event of the third night when they won the relay race in seven minutes, 33,30 seconds.
Almost unnoticed the team of Morne Boshoff, Heerden Herman, Chris King and Sebastian Rousseau beat the Africa record of 7:35,30 set in Cairo in 2002 and the SA record set by the national side at the All Africa Games in 1995.
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Rugby
