Eight young Hawke's Bay swimmers have broken six regional records and taken home 22 medals from the Apollo Projects National Age Group Swimming Championships. Photo / Supplied
Eight young Hawke's Bay swimmers have broken six regional records and taken home 22 medals from the Apollo Projects National Age Group Swimming Championships. Photo / Supplied
Eight young Hawke's Bay swimmers have broken several records on their way to a huge medal haul at a national competition last week.
A total of 22 medals, including eight gold, eight silver and six bronze were won by the group at the Apollo Projects National Age Group Swimming Championshipsheld in Wellington from April 24 to 29.
Six regional records were also broken, including one that had stood for 17 years and two others that had stood for 15 years.
Six of the swimmers were from the Napier Aquahawks, one was from the Greendale Swim Club in Taradale and one was from the Trojans Swim Club in Clive.
Caleb Carlisle, 16, from Greendale won two golds and set two regional records in his butterfly races, 50 metre fly and 100 metre fly, which had stood for 17 and 15 years respectively.
Six swimmers from the Napier Aquahawks team broke four regional records and won 17 medals. Photo / Karl Wairama
He said he was very grateful to be able to race nationally again after 12 months of training.
"All the sacrifices, school, friends, training, it was all worth it. After winning the 100m fly last year and getting a taste of the gold it made me hungry for more and I knew I wanted to do everything I could to win that race again in 2022 and to better my silver in the 50m Fly last year to gold this year."
Kate Hurley, 14, of the Napier Aquahawks won two golds and set two new regional records, one of which, 50 metre breaststroke, had stood for 15 years.
She said she wanted to improve her times and results from her first national meet last year.
"I was really happy to shave considerable time off both my medley events and claim the title in my pinnacle event, the 400 individual medley for a second year. I feel the support from my coach and teammates is strong,"
First time competitor at the NAGs Lola Nicholls, 13, of the Napier Aquahawks took home five silvers and a gold medal while setting her own regional record in the 100 metre butterfly
She said the Aquahawks team was a very supportive community.
"Every time I go up for my race my coach gives me a detailed race plan and lots of encouragement. While I'm racing I can also hear the cheers of everyone in the team helping me go faster."
Iraia Roberts, Breeze van Veldhuizen and Lola Nicholls of Napier Aquahawks met the standards to qualify for the NZ National Age Group Performance Programme. Photo / Karl Wairama
The competition is for age group categories from 13 to 18.
The Aquahawks swimmers netted 17 of the 22 medals between them, putting them 13th of all clubs nationwide.
All competing Hawke's Bay swimmers qualified for finals, putting Hawke's Bay as a region in the top eight.
• Caleb Carlisle in the 16-year 50 fly (25:49) - a record that had stood for 17 years • Caleb Carlisle in the 16-year 100 fly (56:28) – a record that had stood for 15 years • Kate Hurley in the 14-year 200 IM (2:25.76) – a record that had stood for nine years • Kate Hurley in the 14-year 50 breaststroke (35:31) – a record that had stood for 15 years • Lola Nicholls in the 13-year 100 fly (1:05.07) – a record that had stood for two years • Lola Nicholls in the 13-year 50 fly (29:14) – a record that had stood for four years
