The 2024 SNZ Apollo Projects Short Course Championships were held in Auckland at the Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre and saw 77 of our region's top age group and open swimmers compete at the top level of swimming in New Zealand. This was a five-day competition held from the 20th to 24th of August. Over the course of the championships, our region produced many personal best performances.
We started off the championships with a spectacular performance from Luojingxi Chen, 14, who recently joined Ngā Tai Tūātea a Taraika, in the Men’s 15 years 100m Backstroke. Clocking a time of 57.93 to secure Bronze, he broke the 14-year-old Wellington Record previously held by John Gatfield. Luojingxi still wasn’t finished for the day as he then broke it once again in the Men’s Open Final with a new time of 57.75. Daniel Williams, 18 (SwimZone Racing) followed that performance to claim bronze in the Men’s 17-18 years Final with a time of 54.87.
In the Men’s 200m Breaststroke, Roman Anderson, 15 (Tawa) fought his way from an outside lane to get bronze with a time of 2:29.77. Joseph Reiher, 17 (PCA) had a blistering swim to also win bronze with a time of 2:16.83. The Women’s 200 Breaststroke had Hannah Sampson, 14 (SwimZone) and Holly Sorenson, 14 (PCA) fight it out for a top 3 placing. It ended with Sampson finishing in gold position in a time of 2:36.32, followed by Sorenson claiming bronze with a time of 2:46.04.
Moving on to the Men’s 100m Individual Medley, where once again Luojingxi Chen, 14 (Taraika) showed his dominance to secure gold and set another Wellington Record. Breaking the record previously set by himself earlier this month, Luojingxi swam a new time of 57.87, Holly Sorenson, 14 (PCA) won another medal; this time gold in a time of 1:07.36.
Day One finished with the Men’s 800m Freestyle, where Charlie Dickison, 14 (Taraika) started off in the morning’s session clocking a time of 8:45.04, but still had to wait until the evening’s session to know what place he would finish in. Dickison ending up claiming gold in the 14-year-old age group. Luke Kuggeleijn, 21 (Taraika) swam in the evening session’s timed final and claimed bronze in the Open Age Group with a time of 8:16.92.
Day Two started off with the Men’s 200m Freestyle. Charlie Dickison, 14 (Taraika) achieved bronze, swimming a time of 1:59.35, just .20 off his PB. Genaya Baker, 15 (SwimZone) continued on to claim bronze with a time of 2:09.66.
Wellington had success in both the Men’s and Women’s 50m Butterfly, with a total of six medals won. Jaeci Yee, 14 (Capital) and Declan Broadfoot, 14 (Pirates) were both fighting for the top spot on the podium to win it for their team. In the end, Yee got the silver, going 27.25, and Broadfoot claimed bronze with 27.36. Kayne Howat, 16 (SwimZone) continued his success by winning bronze for his age group with a time of 25.23, just .22 off the WGTN Record. Taraika’s Preston Maxwell showed amazing form in his first national competition by winning bronze in the S14 Multi-class with a 34.15. Amazing Stuff!! Alyssa Bai, 13 (PCA) showed an amazing performance by successfully winning gold with a 29.48. Karmen Zhou, 15, also from PCA, picked up the Bronze with a time of 29.19.
Finishing Day Two, in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley we had two medal winners. Declan Broadfoot, 14 (Pirates) once again showed his dominance by winning gold in his age group in a time of 4:42.32. Also, Hunter Lloyd, 16 (Raumati) started his championships with a bronze at 4:35.24.
Starting off Day Three, Daniel Williams, 17 (SwimZone) swam the Men’s 200m Backstroke with an impressive 2.00.62 to claim the bronze in the 17-18 age group.
The Men’s 100m Butterfly saw Declan Broadfoot, 14 (Pirates) claim silver in a time of 59.71. The Women’s 100m Fly saw some success as well, Alyssa Bai, 13 (PCA) had an amazing swim to win wold in a time of 1:06.83, SwimZone’s Hannah Sampson, 14, continued her amazing form by getting the silver in a time of 1:05.72. Straight after that, Karmen Zhou, 15 (PCA) finished for the bronze with a 1:07.01.
Asher Thomas, 13 (PCA) showed a great race in the 50m Breaststroke, winning his age group for the gold in a 31.72, Tawa’s Roman Anderson, 15, claimed silver in a time of 30.37. Iite Alaifea, 13 (PCA) also claimed silver in her age group with a 34.18, almost one whole second off her entry time. PCA once again showed dominance in the 50 Breaststroke when Holly Sorenson, 14, clutched up and won gold in her age group with a time of 33.78.
Finishing Day Three off, the 400m Freestyle had Charlie Dickison, 14 (Taraika) winning gold by five seconds over the rest of the field! Charlie won in a time of 4:12.12, 1.52 seconds under his entry time. To finish things off, Joshua Amyes, 21 (Capital) swam in the evening’s Open Final which saw him claim the bronze in a time of 3:57.02.
Day Four started with the Men’s and Women’s 50 Backstroke and saw five medal-winning performances. Charlie Madar-Leuluai, 13 (Capital) started off the day by claiming bronze in his age group in a time of 28.89. Luojingxi Chen, 15 (Taraika) once again continued his great form by winning the bronze from a heat in a time of 26.87. Hunter Lloyd, 16 (Raumati) also won bronze in a time of 26.58. Taraika’s Isabelle Hunt, 15 had a superb swim to secure the silver in 30.00. Qualifying for the Open Final, Isabelle went on to break the 15-year-old 50m Backstroke Wellington Record previously held by Amy Teekman with a new time of 29.90. Congratulations Isabelle!
The Men’s and Women’s 200m Butterfly had an amazing showing with six medals won. Declan Broadfoot, 14 (Pirates) and Charlie Dickison, 14 (Taraika) started our region off with two stellar performances. Broadfoot won his age group in a time of 2:09.91 and Dickison who recently aged up showed strength to stay with the top, claiming bronze with a 2:16.90. Eric Yuan, 16 (PCA) and Hunter Lloyd, 16 (Raumati) both fought it out with Eric managing to win the silver in a 2:06.95 and Hunter winning bronze in a 2:07.71. Alyssa Bai, 13 (PCA) took out her race to win gold going a 2:30.15 and Marina Nadilo, 15 (Taraika) followed to win silver in her age group with 2:27.31.
To complete Day Four, the Men’s and Women’s 100 Breaststroke had some great races from all. Joe Reiher, 17 (PCA) made a statement to win the bronze and came in with a 1:02.67, shaving 1.57s off his entry time. Following that performance, Iite Alaifea, 13 (PCA) also snuck into bronze in a 1:17.73. Rounding out the 100m Breaststroke were Hannah Sampson, 14 (SwimZone) and Holly Sorenson, 14 (PCA) once again fighting for the top spot on the podium. Hannah Sampson took the silver in a 1:14.02 just .21 ahead of Holly Sorenson who took bronze in a 1:14.23, taking 2.50s off her entry time.
The final day of the 2024 New Zealand Short Course Champs had some amazing races, where the region came away with 11 medals. The splash-and-dash 50m Freestyle was first up. Charlie Madar-Leuluai, 13 (Capital) started off by claiming silver going a 25.98. Noah Ireland-Spicer, 17 (Ōtaki Titans) blew everyone away and stormed his way to win gold in a 22.64 and to become the fastest short course 50m Freestyler of all time in Wellington by breaking both the 17-year-old age group record, held previously by Finn Harland, and the open record, previously held by Scott Cantley. Then ,Alyssa Bai, 13 (PCA) followed this historic performance to also win Gold in a time of 27.34, Karmen Zhou, 15 (PCA) then secured the silver in a time of 27.38. Great work!
The 200m Individual Medley had Declan Broadfoot, 14 (Pirates) claiming his 5th medal with a silver in a time of 2:13.55. Hunter Lloyd, 16 (Raumati) once again claimed another bronze in his age group in a time of 2:09.63. Hannah Sampson, 14 (SwimZone) was also on the podium once again to claim silver in a strong performance; taking over three seconds off of her entry time going 2:25.84.
The day finished off with the Men’s 1500m Freestyle where we saw four swimmers on the podium. Charlie Dickison, 14 (Taraika) started us off and showed his precision in the 14-year-old age group by winning gold; 30 seconds ahead of his competitors and taking 28.27s off of his entry time. Justin Wang, 14 also put up a good performance winning bronze and taking 23.51s off his entry time. Benjamin Kuggeleijn, 18 (Taraika) had a great race to secure the bronze going a 16:34.03, shortly followed by his brother, Luke Kuggeleijn, 21, finishing the meet strong to win the silver in the open age group going a 15:52.14.
And that completes the Championships. Over the week we saw amazing swimming from all of our athletes. Congratulations to trhe swimmers who participated in the championships and to everyone who either achieved a medal, personal best, a regional record. Well done to everyone who was there to support one another, I saw so many supporters up in the stands and down poolside supporting friends and teammates. It was truly great to see that!
A massive thank you to all the team managers, coaches, parents, volunteers, and technical officials for tireless efforts throughout week. Your work never goes unnoticed. Thank you to Liam Fu from Ōtaki Titans who presented us with “All the Gear, No Idea” once again and brought us a SW Rep Takeover that gave an insight of what it was like during a week of national competition.
We look forward to seeing you all at our next event!
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