Greytown's wonderkid blitzes pool

Little wonder Greytown's Bella Biggs was the talk of the national junior swimming championships over the weekend.
Biggs, 10, contested the Wellington meet of an event held simultaneously in the capital, Hamilton and Christchurch and produced stunning results never achieved before at this level by any swimmer representing Wairarapa.
From eight events in the girls 10yrs and under division, Biggs recorded the fastest time in half of them _ 100m freestyle ( 1min 9.77secs), 200m freestyle (2:33.50), 50m backstroke (36.67) and the 200m individual medley (2:52.94).
And for good measure, she was second fastest nationally in the 50m butterfly (35.89) and the 100m backstroke (1:20.08) and third fastest in the 50m breaststroke (44.36). In fact, the only time she failed to make the first three was in her last event, the 50m freestyle, and there she was the closest of fourths in 32.86.
Her Carterton-based coach Russell Geange was well aware of the youngster's enormous potential before the national championships but even he was surprised at her haul of four golds.
''Honestly, I thought she could probably grab a couple but four ... no, I really didn't think that was possible,'' he said. In an illustrious coaching career which has seen him develop the skills of stars like Jonathan Winter, Jolie Workman, Chris Moke and Katrina Simmonds _ to name just a few _ Geange can't recall any Wairarapa swimmer making the same impact as Biggs at a national age group event.
''She medalled across all four strokes, that's something really special, ''Geange said. ''Nothing seemed to faze her, she just went out there and did the business. It was amazing to watch.''.
For Geange it was the decisiveness of her win in the 200m individual medley which perhaps represented Biggs's best effort although the breaking of Ashley McDougall's long-standing Wairarapa record for the 50m backstroke had to rate highly too.
But Geange was especially pleased with her third in the 50m breaststroke as this is a stroke which the swimmer doesn't particularly enjoy.
''She's a lot better at the breaststroke than she realises; hopefully this will help change her mindset,'' he said.
Talking with young Bella you get the feeling her coach may get his wish in that regard. She told the Times-Age it would never be her favourite stroke but as she is very keen on the individual medley she knows the importance of being able to hold her own on the breaststroke leg.
''It's the third leg and the freestyle comes after it ... you don't want to be losing ground then,'' is her wise summation.
Biggs went into the national championships on a relatively low key training regime, which saw her attend four training sessions with Geange on a weekly basis, but only for one hour at a time.
It is a deliberate policy because of Geange's concern that anything more testing may have an adverse effect on a swimmer of her tender years.
''You don't want them burning out, you have to understand that they can only take so much, physically and mentally,''Geange said.
However, next swimming season will be different. Biggs, who turns 11 next month, moving from the Carterton club's ''semi-competitive'' group to the ''seriously competitive'' group which means more training time in the pool.
While Biggs _ whose mother Maryann Corrigan is general secretary of Swimming Wairarapa _ was clearly the star, there were several other fine performances from Wairarapa swimmers at the Wellington event.
Carterton duo Taylah Mawson, who was fourth nationally in her 200m breaststroke event, and Kendall Peterson who set three Wairarapa records, also had a memorable meeting.
Second day results from the junior national champs were:
Girls 10yrs and under 50m backstroke: Bella Biggs (Greytown) 36.67secs 1, Emma Samuel (Masterton) 43.52 49.
Boys 11yrs 50m backstroke: Kendall Peterson (Carterton) 37.68 15.
Girls 12yrs 50m backstroke: Jaimee Hicks-Wilton (Carterton) 38.46 38.
Boys 12yrs 50m backstroke: Cameron Ravenwood (Masterton) 35.89 20.
Girls 10yrs and under 200m individual medley: Bella Biggs 2:52.94 1, Emma Samuel 3:27.84 26.
Boys 11yrs 200m individual medley: Kendall Peterson 2:53.32 7.
Girls 12yrs 200m individual medley: Taylah Mawson (Carterton) 2:49.05 21, Kate Warren (Carterton) 2:54.93 36.
Girls 10yrs and under 50m freestyle: Bella Biggs 32.86 4, Brittany Wildman (Carterton) 36.79 47, Emma Samuel 37.02 48.
Girls 11yrs 50m freestyle: Teysha Deal (Masterton) 34.27 37.
Girls 12yrs 50m freestyle: Kare Warren 31.48 24.
Boys 12yrs 50m freestyle: Sven Tobias (Masterton) 30.87 22.
Girls 12yrs and under 200m butterfly: Jaimee Hicks-Wilton 3:7.83 21, Teysha Deal 3:8.72 22, Asher Rayner (Masterton) 3:13.42 26.
Girls 10yrs and under 100m breaststroke: Emma Samuel 1:44.32 22.
Girls 12yrs 100m breaststroke: Taylah Mawson 1:26.53 8. 3.5