Comet swimmers topple records

AIMS MEDALLISTS: Imogen Amor-Bendall and Angus Blair with the medals they won in swimming events at the AIMS Games in the Bay of Plenty this month. Blair won gold in the 11-year-old boys’ 100 metres butterfly and bronze in the 100m and 200m backstroke races. Amor-Bendall won bronze in the 12yr girls’ 50m butterfly. Picture by Paul Rickard

COMET Swimming Club members produced huge individual results in the back half of the winter season.

They were led superbly by 11-year-old Imogen Amor-Bendall. She set a Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay record for the 50 metres butterfly.

The previous record had stood since 2002.

Imogen’s time — 31.83 seconds — is the fastest by any 11-year-old female in the country so far in 2017.

Comet had four swimmers competing at the AIMS Games for intermediate-age athletes — Imogen, Angus Blair, Brad Hill and Riria Ferris-Reynolds.

Most of New Zealand’s top swimmers in this age group took part in the games. Some swimmers were in a dozen events over two sessions.

Angus Blair won gold in the 11yr boys’ 100m butterfly and bronze in the 100m and 200m backstroke.

Imogen Amor-Bendall was also among the medals with a bronze in the 12yr girls’ 50m butterfly.

Brad Hill showed his sprinting ability when he placed eighth in the 12yr boys’ 50m breaststroke.

Eleven-year-old Riria Ferris-Reynolds showed promise with her fourth place in the 50m breaststroke and fifth in the 100m breaststroke.

Comet also had five swimmers at the secondary school swimming sports.

Lochlann Haar, 13, achieved personal-best times in all his breaststroke events and ended up ranked ninth in the 100m.

Thirteen-year-old Jamie Joblin placed fourth in the 100m breaststroke, fifth in the 50m, and sixth in the 50m butterfly.

Emma Niven, 15, was a whisker off qualifying for the New Zealand short-course championships, swimming a six-second personal best in the 200m butterfly to finish seventh. Emma also swam personal-best times in the 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly.

Fourteen-year-old Holly Fisher took half a second off her 50m backstroke personal best to finish sixth and half a second off her 100m backstroke pb to finish fifth.

Shanice McNabb, 14, took half a second off her personal-best times in both the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle.