Northland swimmers off to national champs

A 37-strong contingent of Northland swimmers are set to make waves at the New Zealand Junior Swimming Championships this weekend.

Among the 22 girls and 15 boys representing the province are several top-ranked swimmers, seeded in the top 10 across New Zealand in their respective events, including Whangarei Swimming Club's Ellie Eastwood.

The 11-year-old is defending the three gold medals she won last year in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events, and will be pushing to go better in the 200m freestyle, in which she finished fourth in 2011.

Eastwood's clubmate 10-year-old Samantha Bailey, is top-ranked in her age-group's 100m butterfly event, and should also push hard for gold in the 50m butterfly.

Whangarei's Callum Prime, 12, is seeded sixth in the 100m backstroke, seventh in the 200m backstroke, and ninth in the 50m backstroke, while Bream Bay Swimming Club's Turanga Morgan-Edmonds,12, is ranked seventh in the 50m butterfly and in the 100m backstroke.

Twelve year-old Heremaia Murray from Nga Papahu Swimming Club is seeded ninth in the 400m freestyle.

The NZ Juniors, for swimmers 12 years and under, are being held in Hamilton and Wellington simultaneously on Saturday and Sunday, with entrants travelling to their closest venue to compete.

Nine Northland clubs will be represented at the championships, and the 37 competitors make the Northland team the sixth largest from any region.

There are only three fewer youngsters swimming at the championships than last year's 40-strong group, which was the largest contingent ever to represent Northland at the annual event.