Inter-High gala delivers fireworks as St Mary’s wins again
The St Mary’s Waverley School swimming team etched itself into the history books after claiming a fifth-straight Inter-High Premier and A-Gala victory in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The record 100th Inter-High meeting, hosted by St Teresa’s School, took place at the picturesque St Stithians College Aquatic Centre.
Under the guidance of coach Cobus Kruger, St Mary’s went into the event as the favourite after dominating proceedings for the past four years.
They swam well, finished in first place in almost half of the races, and racked up crucial points during the relays. In total, they took gold in 13 of the 29 events and added seven silvers and eight third-place finishes.
At the end of the Premier Gala, they had totalled 388.5 points. St Andrew’s School for Girls and St Stithians College placed second and third with 322 and 313, respectively.
“I’m really proud of this team; we’ve now won the Premier and A-Gala five times since I took over,” Kruger told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“We have a lot of depth, and I always encourage the girls to do their best, and I think they did exactly that in this event.”
St Mary’s racked up most of their points during the relays. They finished first in a whopping eight relays, which bolstered their total by 160 points.
Kruger was impressed by the performances of his relay teams. “The relays are tricky,” he said. “It’s always the key to a gala, and we choose specifically when it comes to them.
“I think the girls stepped up well. Our hard work on transitions underwater and those types of things also came in handy.”
St Mary’s might have dominated the field, but they were pushed hard by St Andrew’s School for Girls and St Stithians’ College.
Holy Rosary School finished in fourth, with an impressive 297.5 points, while Kingsmead College completed the top five with 268 points.
The bottom half of the top 10 featured St Dominic’s Catholic School (226 points), Brescia House School (205 points), Assumption Convent (143 points), Roedean School (112 points), and Parktown Girls’ High (99 points).
Records broken
u14 50m breaststroke: St Andrew’s finished in 37.43 – previous record 39.01.
u14/u15 4x50m backstroke relay: St Mary’s finished in 2.24.41 – previous record 2.24.87.
Open 100m backstroke: St Dominic’s finished in 1:12.10 – previous record 1.13.92.
u16 100m backstroke: St Dominic’s finished in 1.11.38 – previous record 1.13.71.
u14 50m backstroke: St Mary’s finished in 36.48 – previous record 36.68.
