SEAG veterans rule swimming championships

SEAG veterans rule swimming championships

JAKARTA (JP): Members of Indonesia's 18th Southeast Asian
Games team dominated an interclub swimming championships at the
Soemantri Brodjonegoro pool, South Jakarta yesterday.

Elsa Manora Nasution, from the Telanaipura Club, Jambi, was
the only one to set a new meet record when she clocked 2:25.82 in
the 200-meter individual medley.

Elsa, who brought no gold home from the SEA Games, cut her
elder sister Maya Masita's five-year-old mark by 35 hundredths of
a second. The national record of 2:25.22 set by Nasution's eldest
daughter Elfira Rosa in the 1991 SEA Games in Manila remains
safe.

Organizers failed to announce all but one official record
breaking time yesterday, the penultimate day of the annual swim
meet.

Elsa got off to a flying splash, leading the pack on line 6
with SEA Games teammates Meitri W. Pangestika of Bina Taruna,
Purwokerto, Central Java, and Olga Halim of the Women's S.C.,
Padang, West Sumatra closely trailing.

The top-three lineup did not change when all the swimmers
entered the final sprint in freestyle stroke. Meitri finished
second with 2:27.27, ahead of Olga, who slowed down for 2:31.11.

Earlier, Elsa also won a gold medal in the 200-meter
backstroke. The 18-year-old Jambi girl found no real challenge,
touching the finish block in 2:27.46, almost 20 meters ahead of
second finisher Silvi Triana of the Tirta Taruna club, Jakarta.
Silvi set 2:31.50. Evelyne Surya of the Tirta Baruna, Cirebon,
West Java, clocked 2:32.70 for the bronze.

Another SEA Games veteran, Catherine Surya, who swam under the
banner of Cirebon's Tirta Baruna, dominated her favorite 200-
meter butterfly stroke in an unofficial time of 2:19.07. Her mark
was 1.51 seconds faster than the old record set by Maya Masita in
1991.

Olga took the silver with 2:23.12, and Susanti Wangsawiguna
from the Aquarius club, Bandung finished in 2:24.46 for the
bronze.

Tirta Taruna, powered by its SEA Games swimmers, ruled the
men's division of the championships, which will close today.

In the 20meter individual medley, Albert C. Sutanto from the
Tirta Taruna club, Jakarta, powered in at 2:12.16, out sprinting
Audy Octavian of the Magelang, Central Java-based Prima, who
managed only 2:15.93. Albert's teammate, Ardianto Wahyudi,
finished third in 2:18.82.

Albert's brother Felix shined in the 200-meter backstroke.
Setting the pace from the onset, he clocked 2:11.90, leaving
Kristian Johanes of Sampoerna, Bandung, and Denny Kurniawan of
Bumi Phala, Temanggung, Central Java, behind.

Kristian finished nine seconds slower than Felix to take the
silver after a neck-to-neck battle against Denny who was timed at
2:19.94.

Tirta Taruna's hopeful in the 200-meter butterfly, Tirto Adji,
added another gold without serious challenges from Sumanto of the
Detis Sari I., Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, and Steven
Chandra of Hiu, Surabaya.

Tirto finished first in 2:08.90, 0.8 of a second slower than
the meet record set by the late Vidi Lukman Korompis. Sumanto
clocked 2:10.16 and Steven 2:12.11.

The Tirta Taruna team confirmed its supremacy by winning gold
and silver medals in the 4 by 200-meter freestyle relay.

The Tirta Taruna B quartet, consisting of Albert C. Sutanto,
Arief P. Warsono, Ardiyanto Wahyudi and Wisnu Wardana, finished
first in 8:22.12 to beat their teammates Richard Sam Bera, Maher
Howan, Felix C. Sutanto and Tirto Adji, who made 8:24.46. The
bronze medal went to the Aquarius A team. (05)