Whanganui swimmers break more records at Manawatū Age Groups

It was a really rainy start to the competition on Saturday.

What a weekend to remember at the Manawatū Age Groups over February 3 and 4. Talk about a game of two halves - gales, rain and even hail on Saturday, and then beautiful sunshine on Sunday.

Our team of 17 took it all in their stride and learned a lot, returning home with 72 medals. Congratulations to everyone who competed on a great weekend.

PBs on Saturday in particular were very hard-fought. However, Salvador Mazzieri thrived in the baltic conditions and achieved four PBs from four events on Saturday and two more in Sunday’s sunshine, including 10.5 seconds off his 200 Free and 8.3 seconds off his 200 IM.

Some of the 17-strong team from the Whanganui Swim Team trying to keep warm and dry.

Some other PBs to mention include:

■ Ryleigh Dorricott (5), Amelia Boden-Cave, Bailee Jones, and Zoe Toy (3 each)

■ Zoe Toy’s 6.4 seconds off her 100 back

■ Nazareno Mazzieri’s 5.5 seconds off his 50 breast

■ Thaara Goh Ramesh’s 2.9 seconds off her 50 breast and 2.7 seconds off her 50 free, and

■ Harriet Aplin’s 2.4 seconds off her 50 free and 2.1 seconds off her 50 breast

A full medal summary includes eight golds each for Ziva Bunker and Paige Conley, of nine and 10 medals in total respectively. Other medallists were Rylee Dorricott (11), Blake Candish (9), Rachel Pui, Caralie Hanna (5), Taven Alderton and Tegan Lowe (4 each), Rylee and Salvador (3 each), Amelia (2) and Harriet, Thaara, Bailee and Nazareno.

Our 13 and under 400m Medley relay team of Amelia, Ziva, Ryleigh and Rachel placed 1st, 10 seconds clear of second place, and our 14 and over 400m Freestyle relay team of Rebecca, Paige, Caralie and Tegan placed 3rd, only 1.4 seconds behind the second-placed team.

Special congratulations to Taven who was awarded the Clough Cup for 8-year-old boys, which is determined by the most points across the four 50m events.

Two new Whanganui LC records were set on Sunday, both in the 400m Individual Medley:

■ Paige’s time of 5:27.30 took 1.6 seconds off Sarya Lower’s previous record for a 14-year-old set in 2016, and

■ Ryleigh took 3 more seconds off the 11 and under 400 IM record she set in Hawke’s Bay in December, finishing in 5:59.54

Congratulations to you both!

These were not the first new Whanganui records of 2024. Ziva, swimming in the Rotorua Summer Sizzler LC event during her holidays in January, took 15 seconds off Kate O’Fee’s previous LC record for an 11-year-old in the 400m Freestyle to finish in 5:28.91. Awesome work, Ziva!

Next up: For club and competitive swimmers

The Dolphin ASC Carnival/Pentathlon Event, Makino 50m Outdoor Pool, Feilding, Sunday, February 18.

For all swimmers

Club night, Friday, February 23.