Bronze medal a golden moment for Prior

A BRONZE medal in a relay event at the national age group championships might seem an unlikely high point in what has been a stunning last 12 months for New Zealand swimming representative William Prior but the Rathkeale College fifth former rates it as one of his two most memorable achievements.
Prior, who was crowned Sports Personality of the Year and Sportsman of the Year at the 2005 Wairarapa secondary schools sports awards on Tuesday night, describes being part of the Masterton club side which placed third in the four by 50m individual medley relay at the national age groups in Christchurch as a "huge thrill"
"It was the first time I had been in a club relay team which was strong enough to be a medal chance and to get third was terrific. I'll always remember that,"he said.
For Prior,16, that effort ranks right up there with his third placing in the 200m freestyle at the Australian age group swimming championships in Brisbane, an effort which indicated that aspirations to swim for New Zealand at major meets like the Olympic or Commonealth Games could well be with his capabilities.
As did his performances for the national 16yrs and under development squad in a trans-Tasman series against two Australian squads. There Prior was named "Swimmer of the Meet" in Melbourne and also did well in other "tests" at Wagga Wagga and Canberra.
Prior sees himself as having little chance of making the New Zealand swim team for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne early next year but he is looking forward to attending trials for that team which will be held in Auckland next month., if only to test himself against the best in the country and to hopefully improve his own times.A more realistic goal could be selection to represent his country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but Prior is well aware of the progress he needs to make if that dream is to be turned into reality.
"Yes, the Olympics are in the back of the mind but there is a lot to do before that happens," he said."It all depends on how much I can improve between now and then."
Prior sees the middle to long distance freestyle events as being his best hope for Olympic honours, hardly surprising when you consider he is the national age group champion in that stroke at 1500m, 400m and 200m.
"The stamina races seem to suit me better," he said.
The good news for Wairarapa is that after attending a number of training sessions in the Auckland area in the recent past Prior has decided to remain under the guidance of Masterton club coach Jiri Mikolas for whom he has the greatest respect."He (Mikolas) is very experienced and I enjoy what he does," Prior said. "We've got a good group of swimmers here now and it's enjoyable to be part of it..Everybody is so supportive and that sort of encouragement certainly helps."
The Wairarapa secondary school sports awards also saw national age group hockey rep Elizabeth Perry (Chanel College) named as Sportswoman of the Year, national youth triathlete rep Jesse Bucknell (Wairarapa College) as winner of the Emerging Sport section, New Zealand under-21 canoe polo captain Kyzen MacDonald (Makoura College) as winner of the Contribution To Sport award and the Wairarapa College first XI girls hockey team which won the Federation Cup national secondary schools tournament as Sports Team of the Year.