Wairarapa's relay teams were entering largely unchartered waters at the national junior swimming championships in Wellington last weekend, and they responded with two record breaking performances.
The boys 200m freestyle squad of Mitchell Cockburn (Masterton), Logan Allen (Masterton) Will McMaster (Carterton) and Oliver Donaldson (Masterton) posted a time of 2min10.03s in placing 15th overall.
That was comfortably inside the previous best for Wairarapa in the under 14yrs division for a long course meet, the 2mins 11.51secs set by another composite provincial team comprising Joe Hammond, Ben Ruback, George Sims and William Hamilton in February, 2008.
The girls 200m freestyle combination of Emma Samuel (Masterton), Brittany Wildman (Carterton), Charlotte Hamill-Harris (Masterton) and Bella Biggs (Carterton) clocked an impressive 2mins 4.51secs, finishing 9th overall.
That too was a Wairarapa 14yrs and under record for a long course meet, the old mark being the 2mins 6.9secs set by an all-Carterton line-up of Katrina Simmonds, Bailey Peterson, Hannah Hammond and Grace Hammond, also in February 2008.
Swim Wairarapa general secretary Maryann Corrigan said the two records were the icing on the cake as just having enough depth in their 15-strong team to field relay teams was in itself a major victory for the centre.
"Generally we don't have enough youngsters qualifying for juniors to even consider contesting the relays, so just being part of the action was a huge effort," she said. "And to do so well ...well, that made it even better."
Corrigan was also delighted with the showing of the Wairarapa team in the individual events with Bella Biggs (Carterton) picking up three silver medals and Kate Sims (Masterton) one silver and a huge number of personal best times being achieved. "We make a habit of punching above our weight at the nationals and we did it again," she said.
The next big meet for Wairarapa swimmers is the national age groups in Wellington, starting on March 6. Qualified to compete there are Masterton quartet Sven Tobias, Ben Ruback, Jacob Smith and Teysha Deal and Carterton trio Joe Hammond, Taylah Mawson and Bella Biggs.
