Bay sports pair in US toil for spoils

ANENDRA SINGH
It's definitely American when ``the body's beat up', if you get the drift.
That's the word from two former Hawke's Bay high school pupils studying at the same university in the United States.
Former Hastings Boys' High pupil Blair Withington and ex-Taradale High's Reiner Bauerfeind appreciate that while the spirit is willing the body and mind have to be in equally good shape to fulfil the demands of sporting excellence.
``My standard is mediocre so far. The training regiment is pretty intense so the body is beat up,' Withington told SportToday from their Kenyon College, Ohio, after a six-point win in the swimming meets against Denison University recently.
``We don't have a diving team at Kenyon so we gave them a 30-point advantage,' he says of his college which competes in the third division of the university meets and secured its 29th consecutive title boasting the name of ``The Lords'.
But that changed soon after the interview when Withington returned some dramatic results in the Nike Cup meeting that Kenyon hosted last month involving 5 to 6 division 1-3 teams.
On the heels of teammates' individual successes, he was part of the relay team with Blake Preston, Michael Mpitsos and Michael Machala that clinched second place with a time of 6min 40.43 sec.
He was then part of the 200m relay team that stopped the clock in 1:20.72 to not only clear the former pool record but also the NCAA ``A' cut time.
The Lords entered the final day of competition only four points ahead of second-placed University of Pennsylvania but nailed five wins to secure first place, with Withington again part of another relay victory.
The icing on the cake for Withington was his team using the New Zealand-manufactured wetsuit, Blue Seventy.
``They were amazing in my opinion and our team performed to a level not seen previously in a first semester swim meet,' he says in an email.
Withington is now the top competitor among division 3 swimmers in the 100m freestyle in the country and his 400m freestyle relay are placed ninth of all divisions.
Another highlight so far for the former Raureka School pupil was competing against division one Michigan University where Olympic sensation Michael Phelps trained before his medal haul in Beijing earlier this year.
Withington is looking forward to a training camp in Christmas for their nationals in Minnesota from March 18-21.
``I'm missing home so I'll be there next July but for now I'm working hard at school.'
For Bauerfeind the season has finished after his soccer side made an exit from their division semifinals after a 4-0 loss to Ohio Weslyan, who went on to win the competition on penalty shoot-out after they were locked 1-all against Wittenberg in regulation and extra time.
Centre-mid Bauerfeind, a former Napier City Rovers player, scored two goals this season.
``I had trouble with my hip flexor so I couldn't play 100 per cent and came off the bench quite often,' he says of their season that starts in August and ends in late November.
``It's a shorter season here so we don't train all-year round but I've improved my other fitness.'
Teammate and centreback Daniel Toulson is the only other Kiwi at Kenyon.
The ex-Hamilton High freshman went to school with Hawke's Bay United defender Alex Barlow and played alongside him at Ngaruwhaia United Club in Waikato.
``It's good to have Blair and Reiner here because we're growing in numbers and we don't want the Yanks to dominate,' says Touslon with a laugh, claiming he trained with coach Dave Edmondson before he was appointed Waikato United franchise coach this year.