Swimming: Schimanski sets Wanganui record

FIRST MEDAL: Cayden Earles is congratulated after she won 50m backstroke bronze at the Wellington Regional championships, having qualified for the final on the outside lane.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

The Subway Wanganui team backed up from their highly successful camp with another weekend of outstanding results at the Wellington Regional Swim Championships at the weekend.

Building on the momentum from leading lights Laura O'Keeffe and Jazmin Phillips getting strong placings at the NZ open water championships the week before, the Wanganui team of 10 girls and one boy picked up 12 medals - three gold, five silver and four bronze.

In the press release sent by manager Neil Forlong, it was added the team earned a host of top 10 finishes, reached qualifying times for various national competitions, broke nearly 30-year-old Wanganui records and made personal bests.

One of the major highlights was 14-year-old Shannon Schimanski swimming a Wanganui open record time of 1m 16s, coming second, while posting a qualifying time to be eligible to compete for New Zealand at the Australian age group championships in April.

"While this time does not guarantee her selection, she has strongly stated her case," the release said.

"Shannon was edged out of the gold medal in this event by Manawatu sensation Mya Rasmussen, however with Mya's all-round ability she is likely to swim other events in Sydney."

Schimanski did strike gold in the 50m and 200m breaststroke events, with a Wanganui open record swim in the 50m with a time of 34.26s.

A third placing in the 50m backstroke left her with an overall medal tally of four.

Elena Forlong (15) also got four medals with a gold in the 800m freestyle, then silver in the 400 individual medal, 100m and 200m butterfly events, where she broke Wanganui open records with times of 1m 6.39s, and 2m 24.48s respectively.

Forlong's 200m butterfly record had belonged to Christine Strichen and stood since March 1976.

Both Schimanski and Forlong were rewarded for their fine results with selection for the All Stars Regional Team (Lower North Island) to compete against the Upper North Harlequins, the Central Aquaknights and the South Island Makos in Auckland on February 8.

Sarya Lower also broke a long standing Wanganui record on her way to bronze in the 13-year-old girls 100m butterfly.

Her time of 1m 11.07s bettered Carolyn Morgan's September 1978 time by 0.13s.

A second bronze in the 100m freestyle with a Wanganui record time of 1m 2.47s gave Lower a good return from the meet.

The most popular result for the Wanganui team was nine-year-old Cayden Earles' surprise bronze medal swim in the 50m backstroke final.

"Having qualified in 10th place with an outside lane draw, Cayden brought the team to their feet by leading the race out and holding off strong challenges from the middle of the pool to claim her first swimming medal."

While not medalling, Judah Malcolm (15) and Alex Forlong (13) swam very well, recording some massive personal bests and qualifying for the NZ Division 2 meet in Dunedin in March.

The other swimmers at the meet, Phillips, O'Keeffe, Grace Hogan, Niamh Hogan, and Samantha Miller all posted personal bests, with Hogan also qualifying for another discipline at the NZ Division 2 meet.

The next race meet for the Wanganui team is at their home pool on February 14-15.