Bumper Wairarapa swim team off to champs

Wairarapa will be represented by their biggest contingent in years at the New Zealand short course swimming championships, to be held at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre from September 30 to October 4.

Competition will be intense in all age groups ranging from 13 years upwards but the 13 Wairarapa qualifiers - eight from the Carterton club and five from Masterton - are expected to give a strong account of themselves.

Top medal-winning prospects for Wairarapa should be Carterton duo Bella Biggs and Joe Hammond, both of whom will be keen to display the benefits of attending national camps this year. Biggs, 13, has qualified to contest eight individual events and is seeded second in the 400m individual medley, third in the 200m individual medley and fourth in the 50m butterfly.

Hammond, 17, will contest seven events and goes into the 400m individual medley with the fourth seeding.

Relative newcomer to the Carterton club Jacob Smith, 15, will swim in eight events while Taylah Mawson, 14, will be in seven.

The talented Ben Ruback, 17, will face the toughest schedule of the Masterton club members. He will swim in six events, including the 1500m freestyle.

The full list of Wairarapa entrants with their qualifying times in brackets is:

Carterton: Bella Biggs, 13yrs: 100m backstroke (1.10.04), 100m freestyle (1.03.40), 200m backstroke (2.35.36), 200m freestyle (2.17.07), 400m individual medley (5.16.63), 50m butterfly (30.98), 50m freestyle (29.03), 100m butterfly (1.09.50); Jock Cudmore, 15yrs: 200m freestyle (2.05.71); Joe Hammond, 17yrs: 100m backstroke (59.34), 200m individual medley (2.08.35), 50m backstroke (27.84), 200m backstroke (2.05.65), 400m individual medley (4.33.23), 200m breaststroke (2.26.46), 100m individual medley (1.01.71); Sam Hammond, 13yrs: 400m individual medley (5.23.87), 400m freestyle (4.45.04); Taylah Mawson, 14yrs: 50m breaststroke (37.09), 200m breaststroke (2.52.03), 200m individual medley (2.34.64), 200m freestyle (2.17.14), 400m individual medley (5.23.83), 800m freestyle (9.44.76), 100m breaststroke (1.21.44); Jacob Smith, 15yrs: 100m backstroke (1.05.68), 400m individual medley (4.59.20), 200m breaststroke (2.35.70), 100m individual medley (1.04.90), 100m breaststroke (1.13.30); 200m individual medley (2.20.34), 50m breaststroke (33.70), 200m backstroke (2.21.79); Nicholas Smith, 15yrs: 100m butterfly (1.04.23), 50m butterfly (28.74), 400m individual medley (5.06.08), 200m butterfly (2.22.60); Samuel Smith, 15yrs: 200m individual medley (2.23.30), 200m breaststroke (2.40.10).

Masterton: Teysha Deal, 14yrs: 50m butterfly (31.74), 100m butterfly (1.11.24); John McKeefry, 14yrs: 200m freestyle (2.08.52), 50m butterfly (29.28), 50m freestyle (26.38), 100m freestyle (58.79); Asher Rayner, 14yrs: 200m freestyle (2.17.17); Ben Ruback, 17yrs: 200m freestyle (2.01.54), 400m freestyle (4.16.35); 200m backstroke (2.14.84), 400m individual medley (4.48.14), 200m butterfly (2.20.42), 1500m freestyle (16.38.87); Emma Samuel, 13yrs: 100m backstroke (1.09.35), 200m backstroke (2.35.18), 50m butterfly (32.16), 50m backstroke (31.75).