Swim Rotorua impresses at champs

Bianca Donelley picked up several age group medals. Photo/File

Swim Rotorua put on an impressive range of racing at the Central Swimming Championships held at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre last weekend.

The championships were contested by the central regions of Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay/Poverty Bay and Waikato. Boosting the competition levels even higher were several clubs from Auckland and Northland.

Paddy Baylis showed his competitive streak and blasted back into form with a strong display in the distance events. He powered home in the 400 metres medley to take gold in a big best time of 4 minutes 39.44 seconds.

Baylis then backed that up with a massive improvement in his signature 1500 metres freestyle event. He shadowed national champion Zac Reid from Taranaki for most of the race to smash the 16 minute mark with a superb time of 15 minutes 52.59 seconds.

Baylis will have to wait and see whether his performance will get the nod to represent New Zealand against Australia at the Inter State Competition to be held at the end of September.

Bianca Donelley had a busy programme and managed to pick up several age group medals. Her age group victories came in the girls 14 years 100 backstroke (1 minute 05.44 seconds) and the 50 freestyle (27.66 seconds).

Donelley won a further 5 medals which cemented her growing versatility across the different strokes and distances.

James Baldwin and Damon Cowie enjoyed considerable success in the boys 14 years age group. Baldwin captured two golds which came in the 50 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. Cowie equalled that gold tally with impressive victories in the 400 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.

David Boles featured strongly in his favoured backstroke events. Racing in the boys 16 years age group, Boles took the silver in the 100 backstroke and then the gold medal by a big margin in the 200 backstroke with a solid time of 2 minutes 11.93 seconds.

Sisters of Speed Kaira and Skye Cox both showed excellent skill and velocity to maintain their recent improvements. Kaira Cox, 16, produced a consistent display of speed to place in the top six in three events, with the best coming with a bronze medal in the 50 backstroke dash with a great time of 32.15 seconds which qualified her for the national short course championships.

Younger sister Skye grabbed a couple of fifth places with an excellent time of 2 minutes 27.55 seconds in the 14 years 200 backstroke.

Head coach Alastair Johnson was satisfied with the team's performances.

"Our goal was to fine tune our race skills and to ensure that we make some gains from our last outing in July. The team will now move into a more intensive training block designed to prepare them for faster times at the Bay of Plenty Championships next month and then the nationals in October."