Swimming: Robins causes opening night upset

By Norma Williams

The petite swimmer, 15-year-old Monique Robins (North Shore) caused an upset in winning the women's 100m backstroke title at the national open championship at the Wellington Kilbirnie pool last night.

She claimed the title from Nikki Tanner (Parnell) - their times were 1m 5.02s and 1m 5.57s respectively
- in a close race. Tanner was the fastest qualifier for the final, registering a time of 1m 5.18s, but it was a personal best time for Robins.

Scott Talbot-Cameron (North Shore) set a sizzling pace right from the start to win the men's 200m backstroke title.

His time of 2m 3.30s broke the national record for 17-year-olds by 1.31s and was the fourth fastest all-time, for a New Zealander, behind legends - Paul Kingsman (1988), Craig Ford (1990) and Gary Hurring (1984).

His clubmate Brad Herring snatched the men's 50m freestyle title from Trent Bray (A) by a 0.24s margin - and his winning time of 23.74s also set a national record for 17-year-olds.