Fellow squad mate 15-year-old Jack Weston enjoyed a successful week in competing in three finals. His best performance came in the 200m breaststroke where he placed fifth overall with an excellent time of 2.33.22 which was a 4-second best time, and a 12 second improvement since December.
Jack showed his speed qualities in placing seventh in the 50m breaststroke and fifth in the 100m breaststroke. Jack also teamed up with the Bay of Plenty to race in the 4 x 50m freestyle and medley relays where they made both finals.
Tiana Hill set best times in her two individual races. Despite having her preparation interrupted with a shoulder problem, she stormed to a 29.08 in the 50m freestyle, and beat her best time in the 100m freestyle which was set at the Victoria State Championships in December.
Tiana also helped the Bay of Plenty 4 x 50m freestyle relay to grab an excellent fifth place in the final.
Jordan Sheerwood was up against a strong 17 to 18-year-old age group, with his best performance coming in the 100m freestyle where he was just outside his best time.
It was a great all round team performance from the athletes. William got us off to a great start in winning the bronze medal on the first night.
With such a young team it was important that they paced themselves across the week, stayed positive and learnt from every race.
I am really pleased that they delivered on that, and have now started to show their potential to improve and become much more competitive on the national stage. It was great to see our points total treble from 25 points last year to 79 points this year.
We are already looking forward to our next big event which is the division two nationals which take place at the end of April.
Alastair Johnson is the head coach for Swim Rotorua.