Kapiti Coast's Raptors continue record-breaking form at swimming champs

Jack Plummer in flight for the Raptors.

Following the success of the Raptors swimmers at the College Sport Wellington Championships, they were back in the water for the Wellington Regional Relay Championships.

This is a fast and enjoyable event that provides swimmers with the rare chance to work as a team.

Events are held in age categories from 9-and-under up to the open categories for men and women.

Capital Swim Club in Wellington traditionally field strong teams at this event and this year was no exception with New Zealand stars Chelsey Edwards and Lewis Clareburt competing.

However, the Raptors were in sparkling form, winning the open men's and women's medley relays (one swimmer of each different stroke).

The men's team then made it a clean sweep by taking out the freestyle relay as well.

Even more remarkable was that they smashed the medley record held by the Capital team, led by John Gatfield, from 2012 by over 1.5 seconds, taking the time to 1:43.73.

They were also only 3/100 of a second off the freestyle record and beat the second-placed team by more than 5 seconds.

The men's medley relay team consisted of Kokoro Frost, Eli Litten, Tawhiti Te Momo and Jack Plummer and for the freestyle Robin Shen stepped in to replace Eli Litten.

The winning women's medley relay team consisted of Stevie Shipman, Tori Grout, Annie Jencova and Isabella Tunnicliffe.

They also gained a silver medal in the freestyle.

The Raptors picked up medals in other age groups as well.

Jay Thorne, Tom Duncan, Noah Ireland Spicer and Harry Skelsey picked up a silver medal in the U14 boys' freestyle and a bronze medal in the U14 boys' medley.

Melissa Cockburn, Riza Hassan, Lily Duncan and Imogen Waite won silver in the U14 girls' freestyle.

Hannah Huria, Koanga Tatana-Waihi, Maia Adams and Charlie Pollard-Simmiss won a bronze in the U16 girls' medley and the freestyle.

Greer Winter, Elsa Kelly, Lara Wilkes and Michaela Gray took bronze in the U12 girls' freestyle.

To finish, coach Jon Winter was not going to be left out, cruising to a gold alongside Ajay Waters, Lisa Cowley and Jacqui McKenzie in the 30-and-over freestyle event, with the team's combined age an impressive 171 years.

Jack Plummer's share in the medley relay record made it the second event in a row at which he had been in record-breaking form following his success at the College Sport Wellington Championships.

For those who would like to see the Raptors closer to home, they will be racing at the Coastlands Aquatic Centre on August 8 and September 5 as they build towards the Wellington Championships and NZ Short Course Championships later in the year.