Swimmer reaps big rewards

MULTIPLE WINNER: Northwave's Hayley McIntosh with one of the many awards she received at Swimming Northland's annual prizegiving.

HAYLEY McIntosh's mantelpiece will be overflowing - so much so that she may need to invest in a trophy cabinet.

The Northwave club swimmer has been rewarded for a remarkable year of achievements in the pool at Swimming Northland's annual prizegiving, held in Kawakawa.

McIntosh took home the Champion of Champions Trophy, awarded to the swimmer who earns the most points in finals at Northland's Age Groups and Long Distance Championships, plus Northland's Swimmer of the Year Trophy.

She added more awards to this list with the Swimming Northland cup for the swimmer who breaks Northland short and long course records by the greatest percentage margin for the season, and the Richard Dunkerton LM Trophy for the swimmer who earns the highest Fina points for an event at the New Zealand Age Group Championships.

Six other trophies will go up on the shelf for fastest female in a range of strokes and distances. She has broken several Northland records throughout the season.

McIntosh, a second-year member of the Educare Northland Sports Talent Hub, will be part of a 10-strong New Zealand team to compete at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii next month against swimmers from Canada, United States, Australia, Japan and a range of Pacific rim countries.

This season she also won silver in the 16-year girls' 800m free at the Australian Age Championships, taking eight seconds off her time, and came a close fourth in the 400m free.

At the New Zealand Age Group Championships she claimed gold in the 17- and 18-year girls' 400m and 800m free, and silver in the 200m free.

She is named in the Tokyo 2020 squad, a development group identified by Swimming New Zealand as capable of achieving success at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and High Performance Sport New Zealand has invited her to become a carded athlete.

Coach Monica Cooper says McIntosh is a very committed athlete.

"It speaks for itself in the achievements she's gained," Cooper said.

"To get that level you have to train well."

Fellow Northwave swimmer Ciara Smith won the Mark Cooper Trophy for the swimmer who has the closest percentage margin to a New Zealand Age Group record at a national meet - she was .07 seconds away from breaking the 15-year girls' 50m breaststroke record. Ciara also won six stroke trophies, for all the breaststroke and individual medley distances.

Northwave's Matthew Gordon won seven stroke trophies.