Rotorua swimmers excel in Australia

Swimmers, from left, Ayla Redshaw (Mount Maunganui), David Boles, Milla Theobald and Emily Spear. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Swim Rotorua rounded off a busy 2016 with five team members competing in Australia last week.

They were representing the AquaKnights Team which consists of the best swimmers from the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay and Taranaki.

Bianca Donelley, 14, and Paddy Baylis, 16, raced at the Queensland Championships held in Brisbane. This is one of the biggest and most prestigious swim meets in Australia which attracts hundreds of swimmers including Olympians and world record holders.

Despite the long days and intense competition, both Bianca and Paddy enjoyed some success. Bianca started her campaign in fine style to take bronze in the girls' 14 years 200m backstroke with a personal best time of 2 minutes 22.73 seconds. Her 100m backstroke was a solid 1min 07.78sec which placed Bianca tenth in the final. In her favoured freestyle events, Bianca came up against a strong Australian age group and had to settle for placings just outside the top 10.

Paddy produced a fine effort in the 1500m freestyle to achieve a personal best time of 16min 26.67sec which placed him just outside the medals in fourth place. Further best times came in the 400m medley and 100m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle, Paddy made it through to the final to place tenth overall.

Meanwhile in Melbourne, Swim Rotorua boasted three swimmers taking part in their first international meet at the Victoria State Age Groups.

Milla Theobald, 13, produced a stunning series of performances to enhance her reputation as a gutsy competitor. Milla stormed through in her 800m freestyle heat to take silver in a new Bay of Plenty record time of 9min 30.40sec.

Another record fell in her favourite 200m butterfly event where she posted a cracking time of 2min 32.85sec. Despite a heavy programme and long days, Milla produced personal best times in the 100m and 400m freestyle, 100m and 200m backstroke, 200m and 400m medley, and 100m butterfly.

David Boles, 16, showed his international credentials in establishing a new Bay of Plenty record in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2min 12.15sec. This placed him fifth in the final. His other final came in the 400m medley where he posted a personal best time of 4min 51.85sec which gave him seventh overall. David also grabbed a fourth place in the boys' 16 years 1500m freestyle.

Emily Spear, 13, came through strongly at the end of the meet to post an excellent time of 5min 34.58sec in the 400m medley. This gave Emily a placing of 15th overall. Her top placing came in the 800m freestyle with a 12th spot and a time of 10min 13.55sec.

In addition to the five swimmers competing in Australia, Damon Cowie, 14, has been competing this week in Waikato as part of the AquaKnights Tri Series Tour. Damon has been selected as captain for the Red Team and will be looking to fine-tune his racing skills in a demanding four days of racing and training.

Head coach Alastair Johnson said the swimmers did a great job competing abroad against some tough opposition from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea.

"The experience has opened their eyes to the standard of international swimming, and will spur them all on to improve even more."