Teen swimmer takes 11 golds

Northwave's Melita Raravula made waves at the 2011 Douglas Logging Swimming Northland Age Group Swimming Championships, taking home 11 gold medals and breaking six championship records.
Fourteen-year-old Raravula was just one of the many swimmers who prospered at Dargaville Swimming Pool. The championships were run using the long-course format for the first time in five years.
While Raravula dominated her age group, Bay of Islands' swimmer Carla Marsh claimed eight gold in the 16-year girls', Whangarei's Maddison Eastwood tallied eight gold in the the 13-year girls', and Chad Walker of Bream Bay Swimming Club also won eight gold in the 14-year boys' division.
Marsh broke the most records of the three-day meeting which started on Friday and concluded on Sunday in testing weather conditions.
She smashed eight Northland Age Group records while Eastwood and Walker cracked two each in their respective age groups.
Other swimmers to shine were Bay of Islands Oceane Maihi, 15-years' division; Haydyn Jurisich, 15 years; Kamo's Freyah Ruri, 12 years; and Whangarei's Ellie Eastwood, 10 years.
Each won five gold medals apiece.
Several more Northland age group records fell during the meet, Whangarei's Jordan Pene broke three records in the 16-years category, as did Maihi, while Bay of Islands 16-years age group swimmer Ashlee Crane broke four.
Bream Bay's Haylee Jensen, 15 years and Seth Faoagali, 10 years, along with Whangarei's Kadince Christensen, 15 years, Ruri and Samantha Bailey, 9 years, broke two records apiece. Thirteen more swimmers broke individual records capping off a successful age group championships, which attracted 205 swimmers from around Northland and Waikato.
Swimming Northland's spokesman Brent Eastwood said the championships were challenging in the outdoor pool.
"It was definitely a struggle for the organisers in terms of the weather, particularly on Sunday, but we eventually got through all."
Despite the stormy weather, most swimmers were pleased to be back racing over 50m, and were impressed with the recently established Dargaville set up.
"There were some great performances, and our prediction of race records was certainly on the mark. Fifty-seven Northland Age Group Championship individual records were broken during the weekend with 24 swimmers breaking them. One relay record was also broken.
"It is better for swimmers to be competing at a big meet like the championships in a 50m pool. That is what they will be swimming in at nationals."
A number of the region's swimmers qualified for the February 19-20 New Zealand Junior Championships, the NZ Age Groups on March 1-5, Division Two Championships in late March and NZ Opens in April at the weekend. For those already attending the championships, they added more swims to their nationals' campaign.
Of the six relays held, Whangarei and Bream Bay Swimming Clubs won two each, with Whangarei winning the big one: the Crawford Woodman relay. This was the 8x50m relay across the four different age groups and the Whangarei team also broke the record for this relay.