Rotorua swimmers win stacks of medals at BOP champs

MEDAL HAUL: Rotorua swimmer Bianca Donnelly won a gold and a silver medal at the Bay of Plenty Swimming Championships. PHOTO/FILE

Swim Rotorua enjoyed a wave of success at the annual Bay of Plenty Swimming Championships.

The event, held in Mount Maunganui last weekend, was extremely popular with a full-capacity 455 swimmers taking part from all over New Zealand.

Rotorua's Sam Baldwin produced a great series of performances in the boys' 11-12 year age group, taking home an impressive six gold medals. These came in the freestyle, backstroke and medley events with his best swim coming right at the end - a superb 100m freestyle to take the title in a swift 1min, 02.89sec.

Also making her mark in spectacular fashion was 12-year-old John Paul College pupil Jasmine Hagan who impressed with a stunning display across the board. Jasmine took top honours in the 50m freestyle and backstroke as well as 100m freestyle. The latter was achieved in a fast time of 1 min, 04.30 sec. She also bagged silver medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke, the 200m freestyle and a bronze in the 200m medley.

Bianca Donelley showed she has lost none of her competitive spirit with a perfectly paced 100m freestyle win. Storming home on the second half, she proved too quick for her 15 years and over rivals in a time of 58.88sec. She also won silver in the 50m backstroke.

Swim Rotorua showed their increasing depth in the youngest age group. Ten-year-old Aaron Muchirahondo was a popular victor in the boys' 50m backstroke and 100m breaststroke. Aaron underlined his growing promise with further top three placings in the medley and freestyle events.

Mikulash Joyce enjoyed his debut at this level to take home three medals of different colours in his favourite breaststroke events. His top performance came in the 10-year-old boys' breaststroke where he just touched out the opposition with a great time of 44.57sec.

Alex Cameron was another starlet in the 11-12 year age group, making four finals and managing to triumph with an excellent third place in the 200m freestyle.

Fourteen-year-old Milla Theobald displayed her new-found speed to win medals in the 50m freestyle and butterfly. Josh Balmer was consistently fast in the boys' 13-14 year age group and persevered to win the silver medal in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4min, 33.17sec.

Seasoned campaigner Paddy Baylis was in good form in the distance freestyle events as he continues his preparation to represent New Zealand against Australia next month. Paddy's successes came in the 800m and 1500m freestyle,​ the latter in a season's best time of 16min, 06.67sec.

David Boles produced some great racing and pacing on his signature backstroke events to grab bronze medals in the 15 year and over age group. His 100m backstroke time of 1min, 01.12sec was his best time which augurs well for the rest of the season.​

Wrapping up the medal count for Swim Rotorua were James Baldwin and Bianca Donelley who combined to take the bronze in the 2x50m freestyle relay.

Head coach Alastair Johnson said it was a strong showing by the team.

"Despite the long days and intensive racing we have enjoyed some notable successes. I am particularly pleased with our younger athletes with their fearless racing and enthusiasm to do their best. We have the nationals in less than seven weeks so we will be pushing on to do Rotorua proud," Johnson said.