Wairarapa swimmers featured prominently at the national junior swimming championships in Wellington last weekend. The team of 11 - an increase of seven from the previous year - exceeded expectations against competition from all over the country with similar events being held in Auckland and Christchurch at the same time. Intotal 597 participants were involved overall. Logan Barham, 10 , shaved all of 10 seconds off his personal best time in the 200m breaststroke and moved up to 19th seeding on a national basis., Tara Field, 12 , qualified for the national division two championships in the 200m and 100m backstroke. Joe Hammond, 11 , achieved a national ranking of sixth in the 200m butterfly and broke the Wairarapa record in that event and also for the 50m backstroke. He looked strong in all eight of his races. Hannah Hammond, 13, took three seconds off her personal best time for the 200m medley and also impressed in the 50m freestyle. Grace Hammond, 12 , was to the fore in both the 50m butterfly and the 100m freestyle, taking big chunks of her previous personal bests. Talia Hullena, 13, took four seconds of her personal best in the 200m backstroke and qualified for the national division two championships in doing so. She also competed well in the 100m backstroke. Bailey Peterson, 12, also qualified for the national division two champs by taking three seconds off her personal best in the 200m backstroke and was not disgraced in the 100m and 50m backstroke events either. Charlotte Pope, 11, beat her personal best by four seconds in the 200m freestyle and returned a strong effort in the 50m freestyle too. Danielle Rigby, 11, marked her 200m backstroke effort with an impressive third length while Ben Ruback, 11, trimmed all of seven seconds off his previous best time for the 200m backstroke. He made a decent impact too in the 100m backstroke. Katrina Simmonds, 11, swam eight races and finished with a national ranking of fourth in the 200m backstroke and a national ranking of sixth in the 200m freestyle. She also qualified for the national division two champs in the 200m backstroke. In the relays the combination of Peterson, Simmonds and the two Hammonds set a new Wairarapa record for the 200m girls freestyle relay.
