Ziva Bunker on her way to setting a Whanganui age group record in the 100m backstroke.
Ziva Bunker on her way to setting a Whanganui age group record in the 100m backstroke.
A team of 17 swimmers aged 9-12 did Whanganui Swimming Club head coach Richard Gheel proud at the Apollo Projects Junior Festival – All Stars event in Wellington recently, clocking up 68 personal bests (PBs) and achieving 28 podium finishes — even setting some Whanganui records.
The girls 12-and-under relay team were second in both the 4x50m medley and 4x50m freestyle.
The Junior Festivals are swimming events hosted by Swimming New Zealand in four zones nationwide on two consecutive weekends. The aim of the meets is to provide 12-and-under swimmers a fun environment to participate and race, with the focus on achieving personal bests and “making every stroke count”.
Nine-year-old Thaara Goh Ramesh in the 50m breaststroke, competing at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre for the first time.
In addition to placegetter ribbons for swimmers who achieve a first, second or third placing in their age group, they receive a ribbon for every PB achieved during the festival. There was time to dance the Macarena and also to enjoy the 50m Freestyle Kick event, which you won’t find on the programme at senior National Age Group or Division II competitions!
Harriet Aplin (lane 1) and Ziva Bunker (lane 5) prepare to launch for the 50m backstroke.
The Junior Festival – All Stars, for clubs from the lower North Island, is held at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre where this year 210 swimmers took part. The deep end of the pool, under the starting blocks, is 5m deep so this in itself was a whole new experience for most of the Whanganui team, who are accustomed to the 1.4m depth of the Splash Centre.
Lincoln Beamsley (right) was third in the 50m breaststroke.
Last year the Whanganui team took out the national award for the highest number of PBs across the four zones in the 101-200 entries group. The final results for this year are still to be released, but again former Olympian Gheel’s training programme of skills and continuous improvement had every member contribute to the Whanganui team’s PB count with many achieving four or five PBs each.
Rylee Earles (centre) and Rachel Pui (right), first and third in the 50m backstroke.
Competing among 210 swimmers from the lower North Island, Whanganui’s team, aged 9-12, gained invaluable experience. For most of them, it was both their first time competing at an event of this scale and at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, where the end of the pool they dive into is 5m deep!
Ryleigh Dorricott (left) was second in the 200m freestyle.
They achieved 68 PBs, 28 podium finishes, 12 Div II qualifying times, and two Whanganui records.
Every member of the team contributed to the PB count, including many swimmers with four or five PBs each. Congratulations everyone on a terrific team spirit and a fantastic festival of swimming!
Special congratulations to the following swimmers who earned themselves a place on the podium:
Lincoln Beamsley (11 yrs) 3: 50m Breaststroke.
Ziva Bunker (11 yrs) 1: 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke, 2: 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke, and 100m IM, 3: 50m and 100m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle and 200m IM.
Rylee Earles (12 yrs) 1: 50m and 200m Backstroke, 2: 200m IM, 3: 100m IM.
Rachel Pui (12 yrs) 2: 100m and 200m Backstroke, 3: 100m and 200m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly and 200m IM.
Whanganui’s 12 & under relay team of Rachel, Rylee, Ryleigh and Ziva placed 2 in both the 4 x 50m Medley and 4 x 50m Freestyle relays.
Ziva set two new Whanganui records in the 11-year-old age group: Her time of 1:14.23 in the 100m Backstroke slashed more than two seconds off Marama Bannister’s (nee Cameron) previous record, which had stood for 36 years, and her time of 1:17.77 in the 100 IM broke Evon Storey’s previous record of 1:18.40 from 2006. Congratulations Ziva.
