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Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
TWELVE Matabeleland Swimming records were set at the four-day regional championships held last weekend at Bulawayo City Pool, with Denilson Cyprianos eclipsing the 24-year-old 1 500m freestyle record in the 16-17-year age group.

Stingray Swimming Club’s Tichatonga Makaya led the pack by setting five records, but it was Cyprianos, who stole the limelight by breaking Angus Findlay’s 1994 record in the 1 500m freestyle which he completed in 17 minutes 39.43 seconds.

Findlay swam the distance in 18 minutes 06.82 on March 1, 1994.

Cyprianos was pleased with the feat, saying it was a sign he was improving.

“I have been training hard despite having had to write my O-Levels recently and I am glad the work that I have put in has paid off,” said Cyprianos.

Makaya continued with his trailblazing start to the 2018/19 season that has seen him dominate his age group, breaking several records.

The emerging swimmer took part in 17 events, clinching 15 gold medals and two silver to rake 81 points in the 12 years and under age group.

Makaya set a record in the 100m freestyle, touching the pad in one minute 00.78 seconds, eclipsing the record he set at the Mutare Sprint Gala in October where he finished in one minute 01.56 seconds.

He also bettered his 200m freestyle record (2:21.30) set at the second Matabeleland Gala in October, completing the race in two minute 19.24 seconds at the championships.

He also eclipsed Cyprianos’ 50m backstroke, finishing the event in 35.67 seconds, compared to the previous record of 36.10 seconds.

Penguins’ Onesimus Ngwenya also put his name in the record books by winning the 1 500m freestyle in the 12 years and under section in a time of 21 minutes 40.19 seconds, beating Levi Fargnoli’s 10-year-old record of 21 minutes 47.43 seconds, while Jade Chicksen of Crusaders won the female section of the race in 22 minutes 35.20 seconds to beat Avalon Bruce’s 22 minutes 57.01 seconds’ time set in 2008.

Crusaders Riana Rollo (15) shaved just under a minute from her previous time (33.86 seconds) in the 50m backstroke as she touch the pad in 32.87 seconds in the 15 years age category, while School of Swimming’s Timea Schultz (13) was first in the 100m backstroke in the 13 years section in a time of one minute 14.38 seconds, bettering the one minute 14.51 she had set in October at the second Matabeleland Gala this year.

Daniel Oxden Willows (10) of School of Swimming set a new time in the 50m backstroke, completing the race in 39.99 seconds shaving eight micro seconds off Cory Werret’s 40.07 seconds he made at the Mutare Sprint Gala in 2014.

Stingrays’ Joash McKonie (16) made a record in the 50m butterfly race, reducing the 26.63 seconds he set in October by 10 microseconds for a new time of 26.53 microseconds.

Werret (14) of Barracudas clinched the 50m backstroke in 31.89 seconds bettering Cyprianos’ 32.06 seconds made at the Mutare Sprint Gala in 2016.

Barracudas clinched the Championships after amassing a score of 395 points, while Stingrays were second with 384 points and Crusaders third with 266.50 points.

Meanwhile, eight swimmers are set to represent Zimbabwe at the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games that began on Thursday in Botswana.

The team made up of Cyprianos, Liam O’Hara, Dale Bruce and Ayman Khatoun will represent the boys section, while Courtney Brown, Paige van der Westhuizen, Nomvula Mjimba, and Nyasha Mukonoweshuro are in the girls’ team.