WBHS wins Durban & Districts gala for eighth consecutive year
WBHS proved that they are South Africa’s swimming powerhouse by winning 20 of the 26 events at the Durban and Districts gala.
WESTVILLE Boys’ High School has won the Durban and Districts A league gala for the eighth consecutive year, which was hosted by DHS at Kings Park Swimming Pool, on Wednesday, 4 March.
All the Durban schools were present, with Westville and Glenwood also having B teams qualifying to compete.
After WBHS won the U14 freestyle relay, Kearsney showed their intention of taking on their Highways neighbours. They caused an upset in the second event of the evening, beating WBHS in the U15 freestyle relay.
Kearsney was the surprise package of the evening, and seemed motivated to improve their relatively poor showing at the Top 8 Gala by winning the third event of the evening, the U16 freestyle relay, in a time just 0.39 seconds off the record.
After the third event, WBHS found their rhythm and won the next four events before losing the U16 breaststroke relay to Glenwood.
Five events later, Kearsney picked up their third win of the evening in the U16 backstroke relay, with WBHS winning the other four backstroke relays.
In the butterfly events, WBHS’s U14 butterfly relay team came close to breaking the 2004 record, but just missed by 0.08 seconds. Kearsney’s U16 team continued their good run by out-swimming WBHS in the butterfly relay. WBHS won the other four butterfly age group races.
Kearsney picked up their fourth win of the evening in the U16 medley relay, with WBHS again winning the other four age group medley events. WBHS’s U17 medley team set the only record of the evening, breaking the record set in 2012 by 0.56 seconds.
The open medley was billed as the event of the gala: the crowd watched anxiously as Westville’s Brandon Levy pipped Clifton’s Conversano to win by the smallest margin of 0.01 seconds.
Westville closed off the evening with a convincing win in the ladder freestyle and claimed their eighth consecutive win in the gala. WBHS proved that they are South Africa’s swimming powerhouse by winning 20 of the 26 events, and claiming 200 of the 208 points on offer. Their U14, U17 and U19 groups won all their events – 15 races in total – to show they are still the kings of the pool. Westville’s swimming depth was also clearly evident on the night, with their B team finishing fifth out of the eight teams competing. In the process they beat the A teams from DHS and Northwood, which is a very commendable effort.
