Rotorua swimmers to represent New Zealand

Rotorua swimmers Paddy Baylis (left) and David Boles will represent New Zealand at the Oceania Swimming Championships. Photo / Stephen Parker

A pair of Rotorua swimmers are hoping to make a splash at the Oceania Swimming Championships next week.

Swim Rotorua 18-year-olds Paddy Baylis and David Boles have been selected to represent New Zealand at the championships, which are being held in Papua New Guinea.

Baylis will race in his favoured 1500m freestyle as well as the 400m freestyle, 200m backstroke and 400m medley.

"The 1500m is definitely my strongest, just based on past swims and my placings. To do well I'd be aiming for a personal best, I want to be getting best times over there.

"I definitely feel like I'm in the best shape I've been. With the times you do in training you can sort of tell by the times you were doing before other events that I'm faster than I have been," Baylis said.

He said it was "amazing" that swimming was giving him the opportunity to travel overseas.

"I hadn't been to Australia for about 10 years, but went there to compete last year, and now it's taking me even further.

"I think [the level of competition] will be pretty intense. I know Australia's sending a team, so that will be good. They'll definitely be good competition.

"It's really good to race against them, because you don't get a lot of Australians coming to New Zealand to race. I know there's a guy from the Cook Islands who does the 1500m as well, he came to New Zealand last year and was pretty quick."

Selection for the New Zealand team was based on results in the last year and having swimmers in a range of different events.

Baylis represented New Zealand last year at the Australian State Team Championships and won bronze at the Victorian Age Championships in the 1500m freestyle. He also won bronze in the 1500m freestyle at the New Zealand Short Course Championships and at the New Open Championships he finished fourth in the 800m freestyle and made three finals.

Meanwhile, Boles has been making a name for himself as one of New Zealand's top open water swimmers. This year he finished second in both the 5km and 10km races at the New Zealand Open Water Championships.

He will compete in those same disciplines at the Oceania Championships. It will be his first time representing New Zealand.

"It's quite exciting to see the hard work paying off. Training has been going well and I'm happy with where I'm at.

"There are so many variables in open water, so anything can happen. I'll just be trying to focus on what I'm doing and doing the best that I can - try to stay consistent and give an honest effort," Boles said.

He said he would not be in the position he was without the coaches at Swim Rotorua.

"[Head coach Alastair Johnson] is here at the pool every day and the pool help us out, if you make a New Zealand team, with getting into the pool and stuff."

He was looking forward to being part of the New Zealand team.

"It'll be cool to meet new people and see another country. It will be cool to meet some of the bigger kids since it's an open event. It'll be great because there's that extra value, you want to do a good race because you're representing your country," he said.