Swimming: Greerton Swim Club's juniors shine

FLYING: Charlie Paterson, of the Greerton Swim Club, showed strong form in the 50m butterfly at the Tauranga Splash Attack in Rotorua.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

The move from Tauranga's 25m Memorial Pool to the 50m Rotorua pool proved a masterstroke with numbers up massively for the Tauranga Splash Attack swim meet last weekend.

Greerton Swim Club fielded 35 swimmers, 21 of whom were juniors who will line up at the BOP Championships in three weeks.

Of the juniors, Jess Martin 12, recorded a personal best 32.66 50m freestyle. The iron-girl award went to Madison Fuller, 12, who started the day with a 2:58.20 best time in the 200m medley and competed in a further seven events in fine style.

Olivia Cumming, 12, looked impressive all round with a 50m freestyle PB and three strong breaststroke performances. Tayla Taite, 11, pushed through the sometimes inclement weather with two sprint freestyle best times, 35.38 for the 50m and 1:23.03 for the 100m.

A strong team of junior boys led by Connor Farrell showed plenty of promise. Connor won the 800m freestyle in 10:36.82, swam a 5:02.54 400m, a 1:06.71 100m and a 30.34 50m freestyle to underline his versatility across the different distances. Aidan Heath, 11, impressed in his first meet winning most of his seven heats.

Jacob Browne, 11, set a huge personal best time in the 400m freestyle with a 37-second improvement. Edward Fuller was the pick of the 10-year-olds, narrowly missing the NZ junior qualifying time in the 50m freestyle touching in 35.72. Daniel Harrington demonstrated some fast-improving technique which netted him personal bests in three events.

The senior swimmers found the going tough under a heavy training load. Libby Bradley, 15, showed she is on track for her upcoming Australian competition, winning the 800m freestyle ahead of teammates Islah Kerr-Aim and Lucy Happe.

Libby also won the 200m backstroke and was second over the strenuous 200m butterfly. Ella Moore, 15, swam through a rugged schedule of events, her smooth freestyle taking her to the 400m win by just 5/100ths of a second in 5:00.79. She also won the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle events. Keeley Johns, 16, swam to a fine win in the 200m breaststroke.

Ella Moore and Mia Pugh won gold and Madison Fuller, Connor Farrell and Ian Pugh silver medals from the Greerton contingent.