Swimming: Locals shine at Greerton Swim Meet

Kim Cadzow, 14, had a strong meet placing second in the 50m backstroke (31.82) and the 400m medley (5:21.02). PHOTO/SUPPLIED

The 2016 Greerton Winter Meet hosted by the Greerton Swimming Club last weekend provided some top class competition for local athletes with 250 swimmers entered from 24 clubs around the North Island.

A highlight on Sunday afternoon was the feature Medley Skins event.

The meet's top 10 points scorers were selected for the skins which was swum in five heats leaving every two minutes. The slowest two swimmers were eliminated in each heat with the last surviving swimmer taking a very hard earned $300 first prize after swimming five races in under ten minutes.

The male winner was Dan Caldwell from St Peter's, Cambridge ahead of runner-up Kane Follows from Mt Eden and Greerton's own Lochlainn O'Connor, 15.

The female winner Paige Flynn provided a St Peter's double. She was followed by Simone Lushby and Sophie Wotherspoon, both from Auckland's United club.

In the junior skins two local swimmers made the top three with Kim Cadzow (Greerton) second and Ella Hoskin (Otumoetai) third.

In other events the home club Greerton was very successful.

O'Connor in particular had a stellar meet including two new BOP records, winning the 100m freestyle (54.13) and 100m butterfly (58.95). His heavy programme also saw him win the 200m and 400m freestyle, the 200m butterfly and both the 200m and 400m medley.

Libby Bradley, 16, made the podium on five occasions in all the freestyle events from 50m to 800m, with her 400m a personal best of 4:33.20.

Kim Cadzow, 14, had a strong meet placing second in the 50m backstroke (31.82) and the 400m medley (5:21.02) while Olivia Cummings swam a huge personal best 800m freestyle in 9:43.88, breaking into the top 10 NZ rankings this year and qualifying for the NZ championships.

Jessica Martin, 13, sprinted strongly winning the 50m butterfly, second in the 50m backstroke and third in the 100m medley in a PB 1:13.00.

Mia Pugh, 15, was consistent across the board swimming eight events and placing in the top three in four of them, with the best her 100m freestyle (1:02.49) and 100m backstroke (1:11.79) efforts.

Cai Jager's swim of the meet was undoubtedly his third placing in a hotly contested senior 100m freestyle final, hitting the wall in 53.78 which moved the 16-year-old right into BOP record striking distance.

William Armstrong, 13, in his first competition in the Greerton cap, impressed winning the 100m breaststroke in 1:21.48 which he backed up with second in the 50m breaststroke and third in the 100m medley.

Louis Fitzjohn, 12, competed well against older opposition winning the 400m medley in 5:28.15. He complemented that with a string of second and third placing's across all strokes, except freestyle, and he set a huge personal best of 19:18.23 in the 1500m.

Ella Moor, 16, booked two more swims at the NZ championships with PBs in the 200m freestyle and backstroke events.

Kate Kuka, 13, was one of the big improvers of the weekend.

Her 200m 4th place in the backstroke in 3:03.80 was a PB by 10 seconds along with some excellent results in the shorter backstroke and breaststroke events marked her as an outside chance to make the NZ championship team in October.