Young Dannevirke swimmers excelled at the Wellington long course summer championships. Christian Falloon (left) won a gold medal in the 9-year-old boys 100-metre backstroke; Lily Martin, 11, qualified for the New Zealand junior championships in the 50m backstroke and Stevye Bishop won a silver medal in the 9-year-old girls 50m backstroke and a bronze in the 100m backstroke.
Young Dannevirke swimmers excelled at the Wellington long course summer championships. Christian Falloon (left) won a gold medal in the 9-year-old boys 100-metre backstroke; Lily Martin, 11, qualified for the New Zealand junior championships in the 50m backstroke and Stevye Bishop won a silver medal in the 9-year-old girls 50m backstroke and a bronze in the 100m backstroke.
Young Dannevirke swimmers have been excelling at championship events and putting the Dannevirke Amateur Swimming Club on the map around the region.
Seven swimmers - Taran Newton, 14, Chelsea Parlato, 15, Lily Martin, 11, Tayla Mitchell, 11, Ashton Apperley, 10, Stevye Bishop, 9, and Christian Falloon, 9 - from the club competed in Wellington over anniversary weekend at the long course summer championships.
"These swimmers qualified for events based on their times swum during the lead up to the meet and were entered into 37 individual events," coach Lin Tozer told the Dannevirke News.
Swimmers from the Hakula Swim Club in Tonga trained with Dannevirke Swimming Club members at the Lido during a visit a week ago, before competing in the Manawatu Age Group championships.
Their performances in the heats in the mornings saw five swimmers qualify for 14 finals in the 50 and 100 metre events in the evening sessions as well as their 200m timed finals, an exhausting schedule for all over the six intense sessions.
An impressive 26 club records were broken, some in the heats and others in the finals by Christian, Lily and Stevye.
"All our swimmers swam personal best times at this meet and in doing so 11-year-old Dannevirke's Lily Martin qualified for New Zealand Junior Championships in the 50 metre backstroke and two other swimmers from Dannevirke came home with much sought after medals."
Christian won a gold medal in the 9-year-old boys 100m breaststroke; and a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke, while Stevye won a silver in the 9-year-old girls 50m backstroke and a bronze in the 100m backstroke.
Dannevirke swimmers Christian Falloon and Stevye Bishop were awarded the Swimming Manawatu Keith Oliver cups for the 9-year-old boy and girl who scored the most points in the 50m events.
Tozer said it has been an intense couple of weeks for the Dannevirke swimmers, who make the extra effort to travel to Palmerston North for extra coaching with the Ice Breaker Aquatics Club at the Lido.
The Dannevirke swimmers have also had the opportunity to share their training session with members of the Hakula Swim Club from Tonga who train in the ocean with a minimum of resources and facilities.
"The Tongan swimmers also competed alongside 200 other swimmers from 21 clubs from Wellington, Wairarapa and Manawatu at the Manawatu age group championships last weekend," Tozer said.
With 1200 event entries, plus relays, medals were awarded in each of the age groups.
"All of the Tongans swam personal best times and many went home from Palmerston North with medals - an incredible journey for swimmers aged as young as 10 years.
"At a time when we are hearing about negative encounters with our waterways, it was encouraging to see the youngest swimmers, 8 and under and 9 years old, competing at this meet to a high standard It was an excellent weekend of racing and making new friends for the swimmers from Hakula, Dannevirke and their families."
At the Manawatu age group championships, Dannevirke swimmers, aged between 9 and 16, achieved 96 personal best times, set 18 new club records and won an impressive 67 medals.
And Lily Martin achieved a further two New Zealand juniors qualifying times in the 100m backstroke and the 100m butterfly, an event she had only ever previously swum in training, while Christian Falloon and Stevye Bishop were awarded the Keith Oliver Cups for the 9-year-old boy and girl who scored the most points in the 50m events.
Tozer said the Dannevirke Amateur Swimming Club's open night at the WaiSplash pool in March will be an awesome opportunity for all swimmers and intending swimmers at all levels to go along and experience swim racing.
Dannevirke Amateur Swimming Club members' achievements at the Manawatu Age Group Championships:
