Kalungi takes breaststroke honours from Mwagale

Abigail Mwagale was stunned as Ethan Kalungi blitzed past to win the 50m breaststroke personal best challenge at last Friday's Uganda Swimming League (USL) 33rd match held at British School of Kampala (BSK) Muyenga.

Mwagale, also Talons captain, had the top entry time (39.21 seconds) and is believed to be close to the 37.00 pass mark that could earn her an in-house Altona Swim Club scholarship.

The scholarships come with waivers of the monthly subscription fees and one would also be entitled to monthly support funds from USL. 

However, Mwagale had an uncharacteristically lukewarm breakout after her dive and once Kalungi got to the wall before her to complete the front 25m, she was given no chance of recovery on the back end.

She clocked over 40 seconds while Kalungi beat her and Astros' Chriton Kato, who was way off his 38.98 personal best on the day. Kalungi posted a 38.82 to become the fastest breaststroker in the club.

Kalungi, a Senior One student at Light Academy, attributed his burst of energy to his "dry-land activities like running, football and exercises" as he has spent weeks in and out of the water "to concentrate on books as this is a promotional term."

However, while Kalungi's performance contributed 40 points to Colts' 900 points collection in Match 33, it was not enough to steer a rousing performance as they remained 900 points off pace in the chase in the USL's overall standings.

They will also be encouraged by beating leaders Talons (17,750 points in 33 matches) in Razor 2 and 4 on the day to finish above them by 70 points in Match 33.

Eating into the lead 

Astros, however, showed incredible balance, across all Razors to finish with 940 points last Friday and close the overall gap between them and Talons to just 320 points.

For two matches now, they have cut into Talons dominance by 110 points per session. If they continue doing so, they should be top of the table in three or four matches to come and coach Douglas Mugerwa is certain the target is achievable.

There were more impressive performers like Astros' Jasmine Kasasa, who kept a maintained her stroke rate and kept a good head position, to have the best breaststroke time for Razor 2.

Colts had Yamara Nakato pushing hard to keep up with Adam Katumba and Kiara Kyaligonza to achieve a personal best.

Ethan Kunihira then benefitted from a strong rivalry between Yeta Magoola and Tanja Atukunda to achieve his target while Nicole Kobusingye and Mikaela Ayebare said they were scared of each other before they faced off.

Overall Standings 

Talons - 17,750 points

Astros - 17,430

Colts - 16,850

Match 33 Results

Event               Astros  Talons  Colts

Open                260       190       240

Razor 1            120       240       180

Razor 2            240       120       180

Razor 3            180       200       160

Razor 4            140       080       140

Total Points     940      830        900