SWIMMING - Junior swim team brings home lots of colourful metal

Whangarei Swimming Club had an extremely successful weekend at the Auckland Junior Swimming Championships.
The team brought home six medals, with outstanding performer Kadince Christensen winning three golds and one silver. Maddison Eastwood won one silver and a bronze.
The team recorded 20 top 10 placings out of a total of 37 swims.
Christensen was one of the dominant 12-year boys, winning the 50m freestyle, the 100m freestyle and the 50m fly, and gaining second in the 50m backstroke. Eastwood scored her silver in the 11-year girls 200m breaststroke and the bronze in the 100m breaststroke. The rest of the Whangarei Club team, who all recorded personal bests at the meeting included, Tessa Hepi, Katelyn Donovan, Hannah Leaming and Tom Stevens.
Christensen and Hannah Leaming have qualified for the 2009 National Age Group Championships in Wellington. Five club swimmers - Brooke Eastwood, Lizzie Cotton, Maddison Eastwood, Tessa Hepi and Jordan Pene - have qualified for the 2009 NZ Division 2 Championships in Rotorua while Maddison Eastwood has also qualified for the 2009 NZ Junior Championships in Auckland.
The swimmers are coached by Dave Girbin and train up to five times a week. The club is based at the Whangarei Aquatic Centre, where it is closely aligned with the Kamo Swimming Club through the sharing of coaching, swimming lanes and clubroom resources.