Swim Rotorua's Molly Sinclair (left) and Kapua Warbrick are all smiles after their recent success. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Swim Rotorua's Molly Sinclair (left) and Kapua Warbrick are all smiles after their recent success. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Swim Rotorua are celebrating after recent success at a division two competition.
The local swim team of nine competitors wasin scintillating form to take eighth in the top team competition at the four-day national event at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre.
Over 480 swimmers from all over the country attended thecompetition, hosted by Swimming Bay of Plenty, Swim Rotorua and Swimming New Zealand that finished on Wednesday last week.
Swim Rotorua head coach Alastair Johnson said he was "ecstatic" with the young squad's performance.
"We have enjoyed an amazing week with so many exceptional performances from our young team," he said. "They surpassed all expectations, and their effort and competitiveness was a joy to watch. This team is really going places".
Swim Rotorua's head coach Alastair Johnson and his club are celebrating after recent success on home turf. Photo/File
Taking home a haul of four gold and two silver medals was John Paul College student Kapua Warbrick, 13. Kapua stormed to victory in the 50m breaststroke with an excellent time of 37.28s.
Kapua backed that up with a thrilling race in the 200m breaststroke to win in a very fast 2m 52.79s. Winning the treble was tantalisingly out of reach after Kapua settled for the silver medal in the 100m event. But she showed her versatility after she won the 100m butterfly in 1m 11.03s, and then another silver in the 200 medley.
Another top performer was Ryan Wilkinson - who took home three gold medals in the boy's 16-18 years age group. He won the breaststroke treble with outstanding times of 32.83s, 1m 13.21s and 2m 41.97s in the 50, 100 and 200m breaststroke.
Ryan also made finals in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly to underline his growing confidence in tackling multiple events.
Meanwhile Rotorua Boys' High School student James Baldwin blasted the field in the boy's 15 years freestyle sprints and picked up two gold medals in the 50 and 100m freestyle with times of 25.09s and 56.39s.
And James took second place in the 200 medley with a new personal best time of 2m 24.94s. James also helped the AquaKnights zonal team by leading off to propel the team to victory in the popular 8 x 50m freestyle cannon relay.
Jasmine Hagan showed her growing potential after winning the 50m backstroke in a swift 32.84s, despite being the youngest in the final.
Molly Sinclair, competing at her first national event, produced an impressive series of races. Her top success came in the girls' 12-13 years 50m butterfly and despite racing in the outside lane, Molly crushed her PB to pop in a very fast 31.89s - taking the silver medal.
Spurred on by that, Molly went on to take the silver medal in the 100m butterfly to make it a memorable first and second place finish for Swim Rotorua. Molly also shone in the medley events with a bronze in the 200m and a fourth spot in the 100m.
Rebecca Reid, also making her national debut, raced in four events with her best coming in the 400m freestyle with a new PB time of 4m 55.69s placing her seventh overall. Teammate Tahlia Wilkinson just missed out on winning a medal to place fourth in the girls' 14 years 50m backstroke.
Sequoia Dobson dropped her PB by more than three seconds in the 200 medley to go 2m 56.16s. Alyssa Pingol showed her relay sprint credentials in helping the girls 12-18 years team to an excellent fifth place against much older teams. Alyssa set personal best times in her other events - the girls 12-13 years 100 medley and 50 freestyle.
"We won a total of 16 medals of which 10 were gold. I have no doubt that this young team will continue to grow together and improve heaps in the next 12 months," Johnson said.
