Rotorua splash out at winter swim meet

Swim Rotorua swimmers Emily Spear, right, and Milla Theobold enjoyed solid outings at the Greerton Winter Swimming Championships. PHOTO/FILE

A team of five have represented ​Swim Rotorua at the Greerton Winter Swimming Championships, being pushed hard by some stiff competition.

The championships, held last weekend, attracted a record number of 370 swimmers, up from 250 last year, from across the North Island, as well as a strong team from Shanghai.

Rotorua swimmer Paddy Baylis made a welcome return to his favoured 1500m race where he placed second in a time of 16 minutes, 14.35 seconds - an encouraging early season hit out.

He backed that up with a well-paced race in the 400m freestyle to again take second spot.

Paddy's other top five placings were achieved in the 400m individual medley and in the 200m butterfly.

​Also making her season debut was Milla Theobald.

She also excelled in the longer races finishing second in the 800m freestyle​ with a time of 9 minutes, 22.66 seconds.

Milla's other top five finishes came in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly and 200m backstroke.

Kapua Warbrick showed great tenacity to grab another gutsy second place for Swim Rotorua with a time of 2 minutes, 53.61 seconds in the 200m breaststroke.

She then demolished her best time by more than 20 seconds to be runner up in the 400m individual medley.

Kapua's other top five finishes came in the 50m breaststroke sprint race.

Emily Spear had a solid outing with personal best times coming in the 200m butterfly and the 50m breaststroke.

Huntar Clarke achieved the magic 100 per cent personal best times after a break from racing.

He showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with after smashing five minutes in the 400m freestyle with a great time of 4 minutes, 42.89 seconds.

Head coach Alastair Johnson said it was great for the small team to make their season debut at such a quality event and to do so well.

"We have been working extra hard on connecting our training skills to racing skills so that we become more competitive.

Our next event is the Taranaki Winter Champs where we are taking a large team of over 30 athletes," Johnson said.