Masterton swimmers make waves at champs

Three Wairarapa records fell and 30 national qualifying times were reached as Masterton Swimming Club members made big waves at the Wellington winter short course championships held over the last two weekends.
More than that, a total of 116 personal best times were achieved with the medal tally for individuals being three gold, four silver and three bronze.
A total of 14 Masterton swimmers aged 14 years and under contested the Wellington championships, one of the main events on the regional swimming calendar.
Their impressive showing delighted coaches Jiri Mikolas and Olga Lepisova as they indicated they were capable of upholding the high standards set over the last decade by the club's departing senior swimmers.
William Hamilton had an early birthday present when just days before he turned 12 he claimed his first individual Wairarapa short course records in the 200m breaststroke and the 400m individual medley.
The 200m breaststroke record, which Hamilton broke by 8secs, had been held by Blair Adams since 1990, long before Hamilton was born.
He won a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke and qualified for the national junior champs in 2008 in the 400m individual medley, an event in which he picked up a silver medal.
Tessa Foote, 12, was another to claim her first individual Wairarapa record.
Her time of 10min 6.41secs (a personal best by more than a minute) smashed the existing under-14 girls 800m freestyle record set in 2004 by over 8secs.
Foote, who turns 13 just before the 2008 national division two meet, qualified in eight events for that meet and swam personal bests in all 14 of her races.
She won the silver medal in the 200m breaststroke.
Isaac Foote, 14, also showed the benefits of the hard work put in by the Wairarapa squad over the winter when he produced a clean sweep of 15 personal best times.
He came tantalisingly close to bettering the 18min mark in the 1500m freestyle, taking more than 40secs off his pb.
The 2008 national age group qualifying times have yet to be published but Foote's times in the 200m butterfly and 1500m freestyle were well under the 2007 qualifying marks and he may also qualify in the 400m individual medley and 100m butterfly.He won a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly.
Like Isaac Foote, Neil van Wijk, 13, still awaits the next national age group champs qualifying times but his efforts in the 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley are all under the 2007 qualifying times.
He had some fine results, winning gold in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events and also took out silver in both the 100m individual medley and the 200m individual medley.
Other Masterton swimmers to post qualifying times at the Wellington championships were Charlotte Pope (12), Talia Hullena (13) and Ben Ruback (12) with Ruback winning a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke.
The remainder of the Masterton team Kelsey Crew (12), Hamish Cundy (14), Teysha Deal (9), Bryan Edmonds (11), Sophie Foote (10), Becky Holmes (10), Ella Hutchby-Horscroft (13), George Sims (10) and Katherine Williams (10) delighted both themselves and their supporters with their performances.For many of them it was the first time they had qualified for a regional meet and most posted personal best times in all their events.
While his younger teammates swam in Wellington, William Prior, 18, travelled to Auckland to compete at the Auckland winter short course championships and train for a week with West Auckland Aquatics, the squad he will be joining when he leaves Masterton at the end of this year.
At the Auckland championships Prior broke Wairarapa senior men's records in the 100m individual medley, 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly.