Last week saw a multitude of our region’s best age-group and open swimmers venture to Auckland for the 2022 Apollo Projects National Short Course Champs. Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre was the host two five days of fast and exciting racing from the 23rd to the 27th of August.
Sam Brown (Capital) had a truly outstanding meet. He broke SIX Wellington age group records and one OPEN record (200m Backstroke). Two of his age group records were also National age group records - 18yrs 400m Individual Medley & 18yrs 200m Backstroke.
It was in the 200m Backstroke that Sam went toe-to-toe with North Shore’s Kane Follows and Zac Dell of Pukekohe in a truly stunning A Final. With all three of these athletes chasing FINA A qualifying times for the 2022 World Short Course Championships, the race saw Sam finish with an Open Men’s silver medal in a time of 1:54.61 - a new Wellington open record AND New Zealand 18yrs record!
Tayla Miles was another swimmer who had a great meet. It was Chelsey Edwards, again, whose record was broken. This time, in the women’s 15years 50m Butterfly! Tayla, with her time of 28.04, won the B Final in what was a very tight race. In the morning, she also won bronze in her age group for this event.
Lochlainn O’Connor (Capital) and Rebecca Moynihan (Titans), too, had an amazing week; with the latter winning the Women’s 50m Freestyle national title. In doing so, she broke Chelsey Edwards’ Open Wellington record with a new time of 24.93! Lochy fought to win Gold in the Men’s 200m Butterfly earlier in the week. Both Rebecca and Lochy’s efforts were impressive enough to gain selection for the New Zealand team heading to the 2022 Fina World Short Course Champs at the end of the year. Being held just across the Tasman, in Melbourne, this event will see the best of the best come together for what will be an unreal experience for both of these two. We look forward to seeing the black and yellow of Wellington being repped on the international stage!
FIVE relay records were broken at Short Course Nationals this year. The Men’s Open Capital team took down two of these records. This was in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay (3:23.12) and the 4x50m Freestyle Relay (1:32.21). Ngā Tai Tūātea a Taraika also took out two records! It was their Women’s Open teams that did so; with both placing a hard-fought fourth. The women of Ngā Tai Tūātea a Taraika took the 4x50m Freestyle (1:46.34) and 4x50m Medley (1:57.12) Open records; which were both previously held by Capital. Last of our relay record breakers, but not least, were Tawa Swimming Club. They broke the 18&U 4x50m Freestyle record with a time of 1:51.06 (a 17 year old record)! These new records will for sure have all eyes on them when it comes to our relay champs in December!
Congratulations to all our new record holders for their efforts. You have done your clubs and the region so proud!
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