Dannevirke swimmers excel at Wellington summer championships

Hannah van Wijk in her record-shattering 200m backstroke swim at the Wellington summer championships. Photo / Supplied

A team of 10 swimmers from the Dannevirke Amateur Swimming Club (DASC) excelled at the Wellington summer championships on Anniversary Weekend, with para swimmer Hannah van Wijk smashing two national records.

"We took a strong team to the championships where the meet attracted more than 400 swimmers from around New Zealand, including a team from the New Zealand high performance squads based in Auckland," coach Lin Tozer said.

"This is one of the largest meets outside the national events programme to be held in New Zealand."

Tayla Mitchell, 13, (left) Devon Sneddon, 13, Siena Cockburn, 13, heading off for another event at the Wellington summer championships.

Tozer said all the club's swimmers went with their own goals and aspirations.

"Every one of them surpassed those goals during the meet.

"For some this meant swimming faster than they had before, with personal best times, while for others it was to work through race technique and improve events heading into Manawatu Championships.

"And qualification for national events was on the radar as well as winning medals on the day."

All the swimmers swam personal best times, some significant enough to set records and the team brought home three gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

Para swimmer Hannah van Wijk, 18, was outstanding, shaving eight seconds off her existing 200m backstroke record, which she set last year.

Van Wijk began competitive swimming as a 7-year-old in Masterton and Tozer said that in Wellington she was competing against some of the top swimmers in New Zealand at the moment.

"She far exceeded her own and everyone else's expectations by breaking two New Zealand Para swimming records," Tozer said.

Van Wijk broke her own 200m backstroke record in the heats session on Sunday, which she initially set at the event last year, by 8.09 seconds.

Her time in 2017 was 3:38.94 and in 2018 the new record sits at 3:30.85.

In the evening finals session she set another New Zealand record in the 400m freestyle.

"This event is not traditionally swum by S14 athletes, so Hannah has set a new record time of 6:35.62 in a personal best time 5.05 seconds faster than she had swum the event before," Tozer said.

As well as setting national records, van Wijk won a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke for female athletes 18 and over.

Another athlete who exceeded personal and coaches expectations was Siena Cockburn, 13, who is based in Masterton, where the club now has a full training squad under the watchful eyes of coach Vanessa Dale.

Cockburn went into the competition after an absence from competitive swimming of almost a year.

Her achievements at the meet came in the freestyle and backstroke sprint events, winning gold in the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle and silver in the 100m backstroke.

Cockburn also achieved qualifying times for two national championship events later in the year, qualifying for the New Zealand Open championships in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.

She has also qualified for the New Zealand Age Group championships in the 50m freestyle and backstroke and the 100m freestyle and backstroke events.

"Overall, this was an impressive start to her competitive campaign for 2018," Tozer said.

Samuel Dale, 14, also had a very successful weekend. He won silver in the 200m breaststroke and bronze in the 100m breaststroke.

"The 13 and under age group was by far the biggest with an average of 90 swimmers competing in every event," Tozer said.

"Dannevirke had several swimmers competing in this age group who swam incredibly well and achieved personal best times in their chosen events."

Those swimmers were Marcus Blok, Siena Cockburn, Charis Gilbert, Tayla Mitchell, Devon Sneddon and Henry Sewell.

"All these swimmers had a very successful meet," Tozer said.