Swimming: Golden hat-trick for Shore mates

By Norma Williams

Auckland's Nicholas Sheeran and Scott Talbot-Cameron completed a clean sweep of their specialist events after collecting their third gold medals at the national swimming championships in Wellington's Kilbirnie pool.

Sheeran won the 100m butterfly in 56.74s, while his North Shore clubmate, Scott-Talbot, took out the 50m backstroke in a blanket finish.

Another Aucklander Dean Kent was the toast of the championships last evening after recording the second fastest 400m medley time by a New Zealander.

His winning time of 4m 26.20s was not only just 0.71s outside the long-standing record held by John Munro but also qualified him for the national elite squad.

In a thrilling race, Steve Ferguson (Auckland) retained his 100m breastroke title by closing the gap over the last 20 metres on a big lead established by fellow Aucklander Paul Kent. Their times of 1m 4.97s and 1m 5.06s was enough to qualify for the Pan Pacific championships.