A second placing in age group rankings, the best performance by a Bay club and 17 of 19 swimmers making top 10 national placings.
Those were some of the highlights for swim club Evolution Aquatics Tauranga at the 2019 New Zealand Short Course (25m pool) Swimming Championships in Auckland this month.
The Tauranga club finished second-equal in the Age Group (13-18) ranking, with Auckland's United Swimming on 1428 points, behind powerhouse club North Shore on 2005 points. Pukekohe and Christchurch's Jasi rounded out the top 5.
Evolution Aquatics also battled their way to 13th in the Open rankings, the best performance by a Bay of Plenty club.
The team's success was a real team effort, with 17 of the 19 swimmers making top 10 national placings to secure points for the club.
The club was led by a huge performance from 16-year-old Danial Shanahan. Struggling for form in the lead-up events, the coaches had him peaking perfectly for the October Championship - winning gold in the 200m (1:50.51 BOP record) and the 400m freestyle (under four minutes for the first time in 3:59.53), the 200m and 400m medley along with five silver medals and one bronze. He also broke Bay of Plenty records in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the 100m freestyle.
Louis Fitzjohn, 15, also timed his peak to perfection, coming away with five gold medals, two silvers and a bronze. His best performance came in the open 200m butterfly final, where a 2:03.87 saw him finish fifth against New Zealand's top senior swimmers.
Josh Gilbert,18, and Isaac Williams, 14, were the other two big points scorers for Team EVO. Gilbert was the team's best Open swimmer, frustratingly finishing with three fourth placings across the breaststroke finals to add to a number of age group medals. Williams won three golds medals across the 400m and 800m freestyle and the 200m butterfly as well as minor medals in the 200m/400m medleys.
Caitlin Farrell, 14, contributed almost 200 points while collecting five gold medals and three of other colours, dominating the freestyle events from 50m to 400m with the 50m sprint time of 26.55 being a BOP record. Ella Hoskin, 16; the Pearce sisters Lily, 14, and Olive, 16; Eleanor Gilbert, 16; and Zoe Wilkinson, 13; all provided tremendous backup with all girls in the medals. Hoskin won the 200m freestyle with silver and bronze in the 400m/800m events and the 200m butterfly. Lily Pearce raced to gold in the 100m butterfly.
Other medals went to Travis Hudson, 16; Zach Reeder, 15; and Matthew Wagstaff, 16, who won gold in the 200m butterfly and bronze in the 100m butterfly.
A final highlight was the team's performances in the Open relay events with a fifth placing in the 400m medley relay wrapping up the week in style.