St Joseph Private, CHPS 4 are new swim champs

KUCHING: St Joseph Private School (Secondary) were crowned the new champions of the secondary schools section after they amassed 667 points in the 28th Kuching Age Group Swimming Championship that ended at the Sarawak Aquatic Centre in Petra Jaya on Sunday.

Their star performer was Sukma swimmer Zachary Tan who broke eight records en route to winning eight gold, six silver and one bronze medals.

He won the 100m backstroke (record), 200m backstroke (record), 200m individual medley (record), 50m backstroke (record) 50m freestyle, 200m breaststroke, 400m individual medley, 50m butterfly.

Zachary was also named the best boy swimmer in Boys Group 1 (15-17 years) in the two-day meet in which 296 swimmers from schools in Kuching and Samarahan divisions competed.

Zachary’s younger sister Zia Tan also impressed in Girls Group 2 (13-14 years) where she splashed to gold medals in 200m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke while Selina Sim contributed a gold medal in the Girls Group 1 (15-17 years) 100m butterfly.

Coming in second overall team was SMK Kuching High who garnered 538.50 points, followed by Lodge Secondary Schools (490) and defending champions SMK Batu Lintang (409.50) while SMK Green Road occupied fifth spot with 201 points.

In the primary schools/kindergartens category, SJK Chung Hua No. 4 upstaged defending champions SJK Chung Hua No. 2 after they collected 414 points against the latter’s 393.

Third to fifth spots were occupied by Lodge Primary School (169), Tunku Putra Primary School (166) and St Joseph Private School (Primary) with 134 points respectively.

Meanwhile, the best boys swimmers in Group 2 was Hii Puong Wei from SMK Batu Lintang (15 golds, 1 silver, 1 meet record), Group 3 Vince Kuek (12 golds), Group 4 Hii Puong Jie of SJK Chung Hua Batu 4.5 (7 golds, 2 silvers) and Group 5 Presley Phang of SJK Chung Hua Tapang Hilir (4 golds, 2 silvers, 1 bronze).

The Teo sisters Mandy, Andrea and Kelly continued to shine by grabbing the best girls swimmers awards in Group 1 (8 golds, 4 silvers, 1 bronze) Group 3 (11 golds, 2 silvers  and Group 4 (10 golds).

Renee Chang from St Mary School was the best girl swimmer in Group 2 after she won six golds and one silver while Vanessa Liew from SJK Chung Hua No.2 walked away with the best girls swimmer award in Group 5 after she captured four golds and two silvers and broke one meet record.

Nine new records were created during the championship which was organised by the Kuching Amateur Swimming Association (Kasa) 2010.

Kasa 2010 president Dato Wee Hong Seng, who is also Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak president, closed the event and gave away the trophies.