Commonwealth Games representative Natalie Wiegersma grabbed the first podium finish for New Zealand swimmers at the Queensland championships in Brisbane last night.
The New Zealand national champion was third fastest in heats of the 400m individual medley in 4:48.73 and improved to 4:44.76 in the final to finish behind SamanthaHamill (Australia), the Pan Pacific Games silver medallist.
Four New Zealanders made finals on the first day, with Howick Pakuranga's Carsten Corazza fourth in the men's 400m individual medley, Matthew Stanley (High Performance Centre, Matamata) fifth in the 200m freestyle and Matthew Glassford (Neptune, Otago) sixth in the 200m breaststroke.
200m freestyle: Matthew Stanley (High Performance Centre, Matamata) 1:49.69, 5th; Steven Kent (North Shore) 1:52.15, 12th; Kurt Bassett (HPC North Shore) 1:52.82, 20; Dylan Dunlop-Barrett (Taranaki) 1:54.15, 25th.