Swimming: Lindisfarne take out school champs

WINNERS: Lindisfarne College swim team after winning the Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Champs for the sixth consecutive year. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Lindisfarne College won the boys title for the sixth consecutive year at the recent Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Swimming Championships in Flaxmere.

With 610 points Lindisfarne College were convincing winners over second placed Napier Boys' High School who accumulated 536 and third placegetters St John's College on 121. Since the introduction of this event Lindisfarne has won the boys title during seven of the last eight years.

Fifteen individual titles were won by Lindisfarne swimmers and 24 second or third placings were gained. Tavis Graham, Lars Benson and Nick Macky all won three each, Stuart Graham and Jon Karlsson two and George Charteris and Kaleb Wright one each.

Lindisfarne's depth of swimming and dominance was reinforced during the exciting relays. Lindisfarne won the junior and senior medley and freestyle relays and the school's B teams recorded third and fourth placings.

It is the relays that generate the most excitement as well as the most points for the schools and this is where Lindisfarne's dominance and depth of swimming was reinforced. We won both the medley and freestyle relays in both juniors and seniors, whilst the B Teams gained third and fourth placings.

The 16-strong Lindisfarne team comprises: Tom Dods, Stuart Graham, Tavis Graham, Patrick Van Workum, Kaleb Wright, Lars Benson, Tom Charteris, Jonty Ebbett-Watt, Jon Karlsson, Nick Macky, Rhys Searle, George Charteris, Charlie Dods, Te Mana Potiki Hillman, Jack Lawson, Titoko White.

Thomas Mannering
Year 13

NAPIER BOYS' HIGH

Four students from Napier Boys' High School ventured to Auckland last weekend to take on a new swimming challenge for the school.

For the past 40 years the Auckland Central Masters Swimming Club has organised and run an annual 4.6km swim from Rangitoto Island to St Heliers Beach. The swimmers go on a ferry to the island and swim back to the mainland. Most swimmers wear wetsuits but some hardy souls still prefer the traditional swimming costumes.

Hadlee Dyer, Cameron Madams, Jade Wills and Trent Kamper all successfully completed the race in a field of 428 swimmers. Dyer was the third swimmer overall in a time of 56m43s and the fastest in the 15 to 19 year old wetsuit category. Kamper was the fastest 14 and under swimmer and 11th overall.

Madams was seventh in the 15 to 19 year old wetsuit category while Wills, who swam without a wetsuit, was sixth in his age category for non wet suit swimmers.

The team were billeted with the Auckland Grammar School Endurance Swimming team who last year successfully completed a relay crossing of the English Channel.