Swim Rotorua youngsters shine at Summer Sizzler

Ariel Muchirahondo competes in the finals of the 200m freestyle. Photo/Stephen Parker

Swim Rotorua have continued their impressive start to 2018 with an excellent team performance at the popular Summer Sizzler Swim Meet.

Held over the weekend at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre, the event involved 130 swimmers from Bay of Plenty and beyond.

Also taking part in the Summer Sizzler was a 30-strong Bay of Plenty junior team which included eight swimmers from Swim Rotorua.

Theo Harvey, 12, produced best times to pick up five victories. The most impressive was his 400m freestyle effort where he went under 5 minutes for the first time with a time of 4 minutes 58.60 seconds. Ava Tremain competed in the 9 years age group and she remained unbeaten to take home five wins from five events. Her star turn came in the 200m backstroke with a swift time of 3m 22.71s. Also picking up five wins was Ngamihi Simpson who stole the show in the 11 years age group.

Teammate Aaron Muchirahondo was also in fine form to rack up four victories in the 11 years age group with his 3m 14.74s effort in the 200m breaststroke the pick of the bunch. Sam Trass produced some cracking racing to pick up four wins with an excellent 35.36s in his favourite 50m butterfly race.

Lina Stahlhut, 12, took top honours in three of her events with her best performance coming in the 400m medley with a time of 5m 50.74s. Stella Weston was in great form throughout and went home with a victory in the girls' 12 years 100m medley.

Representing the Swim Rotorua team and making his mark was 8-year-old Ariel Muchirahondo who was unbeaten in his seven events. Ariel caught the eye with an excellent 3m 12.08s in the 200m medley. Molly Sinclair, 14, showed she has a great future by winning six events, which included an excellent 1m 04.07s in the 100m freestyle.

Rotorua's Paddy Baylis on his way to winning his 200m freestyle final. Photo/Stephen Parker

Also nabbing six wins was Jack Weston who showed his speed and skills in his signature breaststroke events. Tucked in behind Jack on the victory leaderboard with four wins were Josh Balmer, 14, Annelyse Cowie, 13 and Emily Spear, 14. Other victories came thick and fast courtesy of Paddy Baylis (three), Max Harvey (three), Taonga Wharekura (two), Ryan Wilkinson, Sam Baldwin, James Baldwin and Jasmine Hagan (one each).

Overall age group winners were Ngamihi Simpson, Sam Trass, Ariel Muchirahonda, Max Harvey, Annelyse Cowie, Molly Sinclair and Jack Weston. Taking second place overall were Emily Spear, Josh Balmer and James Baldwin, and taking home third place overall were Lina Stahlhut, Aaron Muchirahondo, Theo Harvey and Ryan Wilkinson.

Head coach Alastair Johnson was pleased with the overall team performance.

"It has been a really good showing from our team, especially from the younger members. I was particularly pleased with those swimmers who made their competitive debut as they raced with good skills and lots of enthusiasm.

"Whilst the Summer Sizzler event is an annual fixture in the regional calendar, we do take great pride in providing an awesome event for the local community. Putting back into the Rotorua community is very important to us, and we are very proud of our involvement and support for local swimmers of all ages."