Joe's chasing magic 8

Carterton swimmer Joe Hammond has a top-10 ranking in every event he will contest in the national age-group championships in Wellington next week, and there are eight of them in all.

Hammond, 16, is ranked third in the 400m individual medley, fourth in the 200m backstroke and 1500m freestyle. fifth in the 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke and 200m breaststroke and eighth in the 50m backstroke and 400m freestyle.

Other Wairarapa rankings:

Bella Biggs, 12yrs: Fourth in 200m individual medley, sixth in 400m individual medley, eighth in 50m butterfly, 10th in 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly, 11th in 200m backstroke, 16th in 50m backstroke, 19th in 50m freestyle and 21st in 100m backstroke.

Taylah Mawson, 14yrs: 17th in 50m breaststroke, 20th in 400m individual medley, 23rd in 100 breaststroke.

Teysha Deal, 13yrs: Eighth in 200m butterfly, 14th in 100m butterfly, 21st in 50m butterfly.

Ben Ruback, 16yrs: Sixth in 1500m freestyle, seventh in 400m individual medley, 11th in 200m backstroke, 12th in 200m butterfly, 14th in 400m freestyle,21st in 200m freestyle, 25th in 100m backstroke.

Jacob Smith, 15yrs: Eighth in 200m breaststroke, 12th in 400m individual medley, 14th in 100m breaststroke, 16th in 50m breaststroke, 18th in 200m individual medley.

Sven Tobias, 14yrs:16th in 400m individual medley, 17th in 50m backstroke, 19th in 200m backstroke, 21st in 100m backstroke, 27th in 200m individual medley and 100m freestyle.