Swiming: Callum on fire in Canberra

IN FORM: Callum Prime was a standout at the Australian State Teams Age competition in Canberra.PHOTO/BW MEDIA-SWIMMING NZ

Northland's Callum Prime proved a handful for his rivals at the recent Australian State Teams Age competition in Canberra.

The 15-year-old from the Northwave club saved the best until last for New Zealand's swim team, scoring their only victory of the meet when he won the 400m individual medley at the Australian Institute of Sport aquatics centre in Canberra.

Clocking a time of 4:25.81 to hold off the challenges from each Australian state team, Prime's winning performance backed up his second placing in the 100m backstroke (57.79) and a second in the 200m backstroke (2:01.84) on day two of the event.

Hayley McIntosh, Northland's other member of the New Zealand Age Group Team, took 13 seconds off her 800m time, recording 9:03:09, which would have seen her come second at the New Zealand Short Course champs.

She also did personal bests in the 100m and 200m freestyle, held her 400m freestyle time and secured two fourth places in team relays.

Other swims of note were the second placing of Christchurch swimmer Kaylee Jackson in the 100m breaststroke and Auckland's Emma Moriarty also impressed to be third fastest in the 14 years 50m breaststroke with a time of 33.12.

Junior world champion Gabrielle Fa'amausili also led the way for the New Zealand team. She finished second in the 50m backstroke in 27.04 to break her own national age record by over 0.2s. The united club swimmer also finished fourth fastest in the 100m freestyle (55.97) and second in the 100m backstroke (59.41).

A 39-strong team, the New Zealand squad were invited to the three-day short course meet for the first time, with the competition comprising a mix of rapid-fire individual events and team races.

While the Kiwis weren't allowed to take home medals from the event, Swimming NZ's Donna Bouzaid said the meet provided invaluable experience for the age-group swimmers.

"It gave them the opportunity to compete against all of the best age-group swimmers in Australia and it was their first international swimming competition for virtually all of them," Bouzaid said.