Francis in treble haul at Oceania swim meet

North Shore swimmer Grace Francis has grabbed a treble of medals in the final session of the Oceania Championships in Samoa.

Francis, 20, saved her best for last, coming from behind to win the gold medal in the women's 200m individual medley.

She then claimed the silver in the 200m breaststroke final before helping the medley team to a silver at the Tuanaimato Aquatic Centre in Apia.

New Zealand swimmers won seven medals on the final night of competition, with silvers to Steven Kent and Hannah Saunders and bronze medals to Luke Westgaard and the two medley relay combinations.

Francis clocked a slick two minutes 14.89 seconds as she came from behind to win the 200m individual medley final - just one second outside the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard.

Francis produced a solid 2min 34.40sec to finish second to Australian Rebecca Kemp to claim silver in the 200m breaststroke and swam a strong breaststroke leg as the New Zealand women's team took silver behind Australia in the medley relay.

Kent (United, Auckland) was edged out by Australia's Mitch Larkin in the men's 200m medley relay to take second in 2min 05.95sec.

Christchurch's Saunders (QEII) scored her second medal of the meet, finishing second in the final of the 50m freestyle in a close finish to Australian Amy Allen in 26.36sec.

Aucklander Westgaard (Roskill) impressed in his first international competition to finish with the bronze in the men's 200m breaststroke in 2min 21.01sec.

This gave New Zealand a tally of 37 medals for the championships with eight gold, 17 silver and 12 bronze to finish second behind a strong young Australian team.

- NZPA