Swimmers should do well at junior champs

Eleven Wairarapa swimmers six from Masterton and five from Carterton will contest the New Zealand junior swimming championships to be held simultaneously in Wellington, Hamilton and Dunedin this coming weekend and they should feature prominently amongst the major placings.
The team is of equal size to that of last year and a significant increase on the four which represented the province in 2006.
Wairarapa will, of course, compete in Wellington with the results of the three participating centres being combined to determine the overall national placings.
A feature of the Wairarapa team is its all-round ability across all distances and strokes, a reflection of the hard training put in under coaches Russell Geange from Carterton and Anna Kitching and Julie Hamilton from Masterton.
Brief pen pictures of the Wairarapa team are:-
n Logan Barham (11yrs) from Carterton: Logan has qualified for the national junior champs for three years running and has been swimming competitively since the age of eight. With strengths in breaststroke and butterfly he has qualified in three events. Logan is coached by Russell Geange and is a Wairarapa record holder in breaststroke.
n Jock Cudmore (10yrs) from Carterton: This will be Jock's first appearance at national level and he has qualified in four events with freestyle being his main stroke. He has only been swimming competitively for two seasons and is coached by Russell Geange.
n Sophie Foote (11yrs) from Masterton. Sophie will contest three events in her debut at national championships. She has been a competitive swimmer for two years and butterfly and breaststroke are her main strokes.She will also compete in the 200m individual medley. Sophie is coached by Julie Hamilton.
n William Hamilton (12yrs) from Masterton: William has qualified for no fewer than eight events in what will be his first national junior championships.A competitive swimmer for three years he holds the Wairarapa 12yrs and under record in the 400m individual medley. His main events are backstroke and individual medley and he is coached by Anna Kitching.
n Joe Hammond (12yrs) from Carterton: Joe has qualified for the national junior champs for three years and has been swimming competitively since the age of eight. His strengths are backstroke and butterfly and he holds Wairarapa age group records in both. He will contest eight events in Wellington and has a strong seeding in the 200m butterfly. Joe is coached by Russell Geange.
n Kendall Peterson (9yrs) from Carterton: The youngest member of the Wairarapa team Kendall will be swimming at his first national junior championships. He will compete in five events in freestyle and backstroke in which he holds Wairarapa age group records. This is Kendall's second year of competitive swimming and he is coached by Russell Geange.
n Charlotte Pope (12yrs) from Masterton: Charlotte will be contesting her second national meet and her strength in freestyle is indicated by her strong rankings over 100m, 200m and 400m, as well as the 200m individual medley. She will compete in 10 events in all and is coached by Anna Kitching.
n Ben Ruback (12yrs) from Masterton: Ben will contest nine events in Wellington in what will be his second national championships in three years of competitive swimming. His main strokes are backstroke and butterfly and he has been seeded highly there, as well as in the 400m individual medley, Ben is coached by Anna Kitching.
n George Sims (11yrs) from Masterton: George has been swimming competitively for 18 months and will compete in his first national meet in a total of six events. His strengths are freestyle and butterfly and he is coached by Julie Hamilton.
n Katrina Simmonds (12yrs) from Carterton: Katrina has swum at national level for the past three years and has been competing since she was nine. This year she qualified for the national juniors in 14 events and has chosen to compete in eight of these. Her strengths are freestyle, butterfly and backstroke and she is seeded highly in all her races. Katrina, who is coached by Russell Geange, holds Wairarapa age group records in freestyle.
n Katherine Williams (11yrs) from Masterton: Katherine will be contesting her first national champs and has qualified for eight events. She has enjoyed success in butterfly, medley and middle distance races. She has been a competitive swimmer for two years and is coached by Julie Hamilton.
Meanwhile, the achieving of qualifying times by Wairarapa swimmers for the national age group and division two championships provided the highlight of the annual Wairarapa swimming championships held in Masterton over the weekend.
Masterton's Talia Hullena recorded her first three national age group qualifying times in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the 50m breaststroke and others to add new qualifying times to their resume for this meet were James Pope and Grace Hammond from Carterton.
Also competing for Wairarapa at the national age groups (13yrs and over) next month will be Hamish Hammond, Carlin Peterson, Isaac Foote and Tessa Foote.
Registering qualifying times for the national division two champs were Masterton quartet Ben Ruback, Hamish Cundy, Tara Field and Charlotte Pope and Carterton duo Joe Hammond and Hannah Hammond.
Joining them there will be Ella Hutchby-Horscroft and William Hamilton of Masterton and Bailey Peterson and Katrina
Simmonds of Carterton.
The Wairarapa championships attracted 85 swimmers from 10 Wairarapa, Manawatu and Wellington clubs with the total number of entries numbering 712.
All distances and strokes were contested against all age groups except the 1500m and 800m freestyle events which will be swum at a later date.