The regional pinnacle for junior swimming, the BOP championships, were held in Rotorua over the weekend.
A strong Greerton girls' team just missed heading off the home team Rotorua in the overall female club rankings. Caitlin Farrell (12) won four individual golds and four silvers before helping her Greerton teamwin both the freestyle and medley relays by comfortable margins.
In a tight battle with Rotorua swimmer Lina Stahlhut, Caitlin finished one point behind in the competition for the most outstanding individual event prize. Teammates Katie Hills and Jungeun Song (both 12) backed up superbly; Katie with a stash of nine medals including the two relays and Jungeun contributing to the relays and then taking all three breaststroke golds and the meet prize for female stroke champion (breaststroke).
The champion prize for female butterfly stroke went to outstanding 11-year-old Shaeli Brewer. Shaeli was also the top individual points scorer for the Greerton team winning a combined total of 10 gold medals and one silver, only being edged out in the 100m backstroke by 0.57 seconds. The pick of her races was the 50m backstroke where a 34.86sec win saw her come within splits of the Bay of Plenty record.
Also clocking up big points for the girls were Zoe Wilkinson (11) and Carina Roberts (8). Zoe went 100 per cent in personal bests over nine events, turning practice into performance by winning medals in six of them. Carina won two bronzes in the 9-and-under age group while sister Ariana Roberts (11) won two silvers and a bronze. Sinead Simpson (12) won two bronze medals.
The Greerton boys were led by Brin Watson (12) with one silver and six bronzes including a coveted relay medal with Zac Quin (11), Elliott Pugh (11) and Ian Pugh (12).
Zac also won an individual silver in the 100m butterfly. Nine-year-old brother Will Quin showed vast improvement and surprised with three silvers and a bronze. Dane Wooster (9) also improved hugely across the board winning four silvers and two bronzes. He showed plenty of character stepping up to the 12-and-under medley relay team in the absence of some of the older boys.
Ian Pugh won a 200m backstroke silver medal while first-ever regional medals went to Zac Baveystock (11) with a big 100m backstroke PB and Ollie Giles Miller (10) with silver in the 50m butterfly.
