On The Up: Whanganui swimmer Paige Conley adds five golds to her collection at age group nationals

Paige Conley has now won 10 golds at the NZ Age Group Swimming Championships. Photo / BW Media - Swimming NZ

Whanganui swimmer Paige Conley has added five golds to her collection after this year’s NZ Age Group Swimming Championships.

The 15-year-old won the 1500m, 800m and 400m freestyle events in her age group, as well as the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly.

She also picked up silver in the 200m freestyle and bronze in the 100m butterfly at the champs, held at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre.

Paige has now won 19 medals, including 10 golds, at the championships (NAGS) since starting as a 13-year-old in 2023.

Whanganui teammate Zoe Baskett, 13, won bronze in the 200m backstroke at this year’s event, with Ryleigh Dorricot, Rachel Pui and Millie Boden-Cave also competing.

Paige, Whanganui High School’s 2024 Junior Sportswoman of the Year, said coach Richard Gheel had been instrumental in her success.

She won the 200m butterfly and 1500m freestyle by a distance but the 400m individual medley “was definitely a close one”.

“Butterfly is my strongest stroke so I always get out pretty fast,” she said.

“Backstroke and breaststroke aren’t so good but I can usually pull it back on the freestyle.”

She said it was important to keep up a training routine and, when she was not swimming, she was at the pool helping younger club members.

Volunteering at the pool began as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme “but now I just do it for fun”.

“Basically, I’m there [Splash Centre] every morning and every afternoon,” Paige said.

“The main pool is going to be shut [for two months] but we’ve still got a 25m pool on the other side. It’s just a lot smaller and shallower."

Next up was the Wellington Short Course Championships in June, followed by the National Short Course Championships in September, she said.

Paige has one more year to add to her NAGS medal tally, with the 16-year age group the last in the competition.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.