At his first Midmar Mile swim in February, he swam in the most difficult and fastest group proudly wearing the prestigious orange cap and swimming with Chad Ho’s group, the winner of six Midmar swims in the mens 14 to 30 category.
As one of the youngest and having recently turned 14 years of age 14 days prior to the race, Merritt placed 230th out of the 1165 swimmers in his category in a time of 25 minutes and 36 seconds.
Merritt has also been chosen to represent the A team in the Gauteng Life Saving squad at the end of April in Durban, at the South African Life Saving Nationals event.
The school’s Stephen Hazley congratulated and wished him well for the event.
Reddam House recognised Merritt’s talent after testing him in the pool in April last year against the Victor Ladorim of Fairways Primary School the previous year, where he beat him in breast stroke, Merritt’s favourite event.
At that stage, Merritt had only been swimming seriously for two months. Merritt joined Reddam shortly thereafter.