Kawakawa six head for NZ Open champs

Something is in the water at the Bay of Islands Swimming Club.
Six swimmers from Kawakawa-based club have qualified for the premier event on the Swimming New Zealand calendar, the 2011 NZ Open Championships.
The Bay of Islands contingent of Ashlee Crane, Carla Marsh, Jayne Clarke and Sarah Gorman, all 16, along with Oceane Maihi, 15, and 23-year-old Shane Smith will join Northwaves' Melita Raravula and Bream Bay's Bradley Kemp at the six day championships, which start at Auckland's West Wave on Sunday.
BOI swim coach John Clarke has been with the club for just one year after leaving West Wave, and has already seen a vast improvement in his swimmers.
"Volunteer coach Marty Hampton did a great job on limited hours before I came in. We have managed to step up the hours of training and the swimmers seem to be responding well," he said.
While it has already been a hectic few months for Northland's top swimmers, this is the meeting most of them have been aiming to peak for, the BOI coach said.
Of his swimmers attending the Opens, Clarke said Maihi would have a good chance in the 50m breaststroke should she go close to her 34.75seconds personal best time, while individual medley swimmer Marsh was looking strong in her key event, the 200IM as well as the 100 and 200m freestyle events.
Crane was also one to look out for, heading into the Opens as the highest ranked Northland swimmer, sitting in ninth spot for the gruelling women's 200m butterfly event. Crane will also contest the 100m fly.
With so many strong female swimmers, Northland have entered two relay teams to race in the 4x100m freestyle and the 4x100m IM events.
Meanwhile, following an outstanding age-groups campaign Raravula is gearing up for nine events at the Opens - and has the heaviest workload of the Northland swimmers. She is ranked tenth in the women's 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly events.
The eight-strong Northland contingent is the biggest to attend the Opens for many years, and it follows on from a record number of Northland qualifiers earlier this year in both the NZ Junior Championships and the NZ Age Group Championships.
The team for the Opens would have been bigger but Bream Bay's Hayley Jensen is unable to compete next week.