Records tumble at meet

STAR TURN: Perhaps best of the Wanganui swimmers, Shannon Schimanski, returned home from the NZ Short Course Championship with two age group gold medals. PHOTOS/JEFFPHILLIPS180815WCJPSHANNON_SCHIMANSK

Age-group and regional records tumbled when the Subway Wanganui Swim team competed at the first major competition to be held at the Sir Owen Glen National Aquatic Centre on Auckland's North Shore last week.

Wanganui swimmers won two gold and two bronze medals, had 13 other top-10 finishes, including three in open finals, broke two Wellington regional age-group records and a host of Wanganui age-group and open records at the National Short Course Championship meet.

The star of the Wanganui show was again 15-year-old Shannon Schimanski, who on day one showed what top form she was in, winning gold in the 15-year-old girls' breaststroke in a Wellington age group and Wanganui open and age-group record time of 1m 10.99s.

"This swim was so impressive that she blitzed her nearest competitor by three seconds and made the open final swimming against the very best the country has to offer and securing the eighth ranking in New Zealand," Wanganui coach Andy McLay said.

The following day Schimanski scored her second gold and second Wellington age-group and Wanganui open and age-group record in the 50m breaststroke, clocking 32.94s, and becoming the first Wanganui club member in recent times to win two national titles at one meet.

She stepped up against the best again in the open final and was the seventh fastest New Zealander home.

Schimanski was also part of the Wellington regional under-15 medley relay team that claimed bronze on the final day and secured top-10 finishes in the 100m backstroke (ninth), the 100m individual medley (sixth and Wanganui open and age-group record), the 200m breaststroke (fourth and Wanganui open and age-group record) and the 50m back (fifth) to complete a fantastic week of competition for her.

Fellow New Zealand age-group representative Elena Forlong had to wait until the final two days of competition to race her preferred butterfly events.

"She had some tough competition in the 100m butterfly event being touched out by 0.13 of a second for a fourth place finish in a Wanganui open and age-group record time of 1m 4.85s," McLay said.

"She then lowered this time to 1m 4.48s in the 15 to 16-year-old grading final in the evening session beating two of the three girls who had kept her off the victory dais earlier that day."

The Wanganui records were again not safe in the 16-year-olds' 200m butterfly with a bronze medal swim and a time of 2m 20.88s which was also good enough to qualify her for the open final that evening.

Saving her best for last, Forlong again swam a personal best time of 2m 20.63s to place her as the fourth-fastest woman in the event in New Zealand at the championships. Forlong's other swims of note were a Wanganui age group and open record in the 50m butterfly and an eighth placing in the 400m individual medley.

Sarya Lower was the other Wanganui swimmer to go to the nationals and while not medalling she showed she will be a force to be reckoned with at the national age-group champs in 2016. Having just turned 14 she still managed four individual top-10 placings in the 100m breaststroke (seventh) the 100m individual medley (sixth), the 50m and 100m freestyle (both fifth) and a fifth placing leading off for the Wellington regional under-15 team in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

Lower's most notable achievements were a Wanganui age-group record in the 100m individual medley by two seconds with a time of 1m 8.75s and Wanganui open and age-group records in the 50m freestyle (lowering the mark twice to 27.52s) and the 100 freestyle breaking the one minute mark for the first (and second) time, clocking 59.92s (morning) and 59.69s (evening) in her two swims on the final day. McLay said it was satisfying that training programmes were proving Wanganui swimmers could compete at this level.