Tirta Taruna dominates swimming c'ships

Tirta Taruna dominates swimming c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Felix C. Sutanto and Catherine Surya were named
the best swimmers as Jakarta swim club Tirta Taruna retained the
overall title at the 17th Interclub Swimming Championships
yesterday.

Felix, who won three golds and broke two meet records, led
Tirta Taruna in racking up 823 points to remain the country's
strongest swim club. Hiu from Surabaya came second with 501
points, followed by Aquarius from Bandung with 481 points.

The organizers used accumulative points not the number of
medals to decide the standings at the four-day championship.

Catherine, who grabbed a gold and a silver on Friday, added
another gold in 400m freestyle and a silver in the 100m freestyle
yesterday to her tally. She swims for Tirta Baruna in Cirebon,
West Java.

The 15-year-old West Javanese had to fight fellow national
team member Elsa Manora Nasution in the 400m freestyle. Elsa swam
under the banner of Telanaipura from Jambi.

In the final 100 meters Catherine broke loose to power to a
winning time of 4:35.34. Elsa finished a distant second with
4:39.64. Susanti Wangsawiguna from Aquarius, clocked 4:43.11 to
get the bronze.

Catherine, who made a comeback to the pool in August after an
18-month ban for taking drugs, failed to maintain the pace in the
100m freestyle.

SEA Games team member Meitri W. Pangestika from the Bina
Taruna club in Purwokerto, Central Java won the sprint after a
neck-to-neck battle with Catherine. Meitri out-touched Catherine
by .43 seconds with a time of 0:59.32.

Fourteen-year-old Olga Halim, one of Indonesian hopes at the
upcoming 1997 Southeast Asian Games, clocked 1:00.64 for the
bronze.

Veteran Rita Mariani from the Hiu club extended Olga's losing
streak when she cruised to a 2:45.09 in the 200m women's
breaststroke. Olga managed only 2:48.01, followed by Budhi
Wijayanti of Bina Taruna with 2:50.75.

Felix's twin brother, Albert, confirmed Tirta Taruna's
supremacy when he won the 1500m freestyle with a record-breaking
time of 16:50.40.

His new meet record is nowhere near his own national record
of 16:09.96.

Albert set the pace at the beginning, leaving his closest
rival Donny Budiarto from Bina Taruna to finish second with
17:30.31. Steven Chandra from Hiu took the bronze in 17:33.86.

In the 200m men's breaststroke, SEA Games team member Audi
Octavian from the Prima club in Magelang, Central Java, won the
gold medal in 2:26.02.

Fellow Central Javanese, Deny Kurniawan from Bhumi Phala in
Temanggung, clocked 2:31.72 to finish second. The bronze went to
Budi Gunawan from the Women's SC in Padang, West Sumatra who set
2:33.09.

SEA Games veterans, Richard Sam Bera and Wisnu Wardana, both
from Tirta Taruna, dominated the 100m men's freestyle.

Richard got off to a flying start and never let his teammate
come close. However, Richard, who won Indonesia's only individual
gold in the just concluded SEA Games, failed to beat the national
record he set in Seattle in 1991.

Richard finished in 52.29 seconds, 78 hundredths of a second
off his national record.

Wisnu had to be content with the silver as he clocked 54.42,
with the bronze going to Kristian Johanes from Sampoerna.

In the 400m men's medley relay, Tirta Taruna's two teams won
the gold and silver.

The Tirta Taruna A team finished in 4:14.75, followed by the
Tirta Taruna C with 4:18.19. Suryanaga in Surabaya took the
bronze in 4:18.43. (05)