Gutsy breaststroker hauls in gold

Young Ellie Eastwood was first to reach the end of the rainbow, collecting three gold medals at the 2011 New Zealand Junior Swimming Championships.
The Whangarei Swim Club 10-year-old had the best qualifying times in all three events and said she was "kind of" expecting to win after winning her finals at the Westwave Aquatic Centre at Henderson in Auckland.
But she still had a nervous 15-minute wait for the results of the Wellington leg of the championships - with each event swum simultaneously - to confirm her as national champion in each of the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke finals.
Her coach Liz Furey said the delay as the times from the two finals venues were compared was the worst part of the night.
"I had to sit and watch it all - it was very nerve-racking for me and Ellie's parents - I think Ellie was the least nervous of all of us," Furey said.
Furey, a former age group breaststroke champion herself, said it was different in her day when finals were held in just one pool.
She said Eastwood has the right attitude to go on to do bigger and better things.
"She's got the attitude she needs to go as far as she can in the sport, she keeps going and never gives up," she said.
Eastwood also finished in fourth place in the 200m freestyle event and Furey said that might be another direction that the young swimmer could find herself following in the years to come.
"She's very young still and may go on and change strokes at some stage because she's quite a good freestyle distance swimmer, it's too early to tell really but she's a gutsy little swimmer already and she deserves her success," she said.
Eastwood was the star of the 40-strong Northland team - the biggest to attend the nationals in several years - but there were a number of other swimmers who performed well.
Northwave's Snapper Gulick was the other individual medallist winning two silver medals in the boys 12-years 100m fly and the boys 12-years 200m fly.
Gulick added two more medals to his haul as a part of Swimming Northland Relay Teams.
Along with Sean Collier, Rory Kelleher and Matthew Gordon, he won another silver in the boys 12-years-and-under 4x50m medley and with Collier, Kelleher and Kieran Swords, the team picked up a bronze in the boys 12-years-and-under 4x50m freestyle.
The team were one of the smartest to attend the meet, with the New Zealand Refining company sponsoring them for the first time - outfitting the entire team with tracksuits and gear bags.