Swim Rotorua score podium places at Taupō XLR8 swim meet

Swim Rotorua's Ariel Muchirahondo (left), Hone Curtis, Emily Spear, Kaia Joyce and Molly Sinclair were some of the medal winners at the Taupō Xlr8 swim meet. Photo / Supplied

Swim Rotorua have started their winter season with a solid showing at the ever-popular Taupō XLR8 swim meet last weekend.

Kaia Joyce was in great form to claim six gold medals and two silver medals. She showed versatility by winning events in four different strokes to be well clear of her 11-year-old rivals. The pick of the bunch was the 100m butterfly with an excellent time of 1m 15.52s.

Kaia's older brother Miki snagged a win in the 12-year-old boys' 200m breaststroke to make it seven golds for the Joyce household. Miki also claimed one silver and two bronze medals from his breaststroke, butterfly and medley races.

Aaron Muchirahondo won a gold medal in the 12-year-old boys' 200m freestyle with a time of 2m 25.66s. Aaron also dug deep to win a further three medals. Younger brother Ariel produced some excellent results. His three golds came in the 100m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke, and his three silvers came in the 200m breaststroke, 50m and 100m freestyle.

Hone Curtis won four medals in the backstroke and breaststroke events. His solo win came in the 100m backstroke with a best time of 1m 27.07s. He also took home fourth place overall in the combined XLR8 points.

Molly Sinclair secured second place overall in the XLR8 points in her 16 years and older age group. She was victorious in a couple of events to ensure more gold in the Swim Rotorua treasury. Her podium topping exploits came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events with respective best times of 1m 26.65s and 3m 2.30s.

Emily Spear celebrated her birthday on day two with an overall win in the 15-year-old girls' division. She collected points with wins in the 400m medley, 200m butterfly, 100m butterfly and 1500m freestyle. Her other medal was a bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Swim Rotorua head coach Alastair Johnson said it had been a good early season hit out for their small team.

"Training has been going well and we are almost into our stride now in terms of intensity and building up our aerobic base. We have quite a few swim meets coming up which will no doubt test our athletes even more," Johnson said.

- Supplied content