Whanganui’s Paige Conley now a national and secondary schools swimming champion

Gold medal winner Paige Conley, front, national and secondary schools swimming champion, with some of the Whanganui Swimming Club team members at training on Thursday at the Splash Centre: Keanu Marshall (Whanganui Collegiate), Ruby Hoekstra (Whanganui High School) and Sophie Young-Wilson (Whanganui Collegiate.)

Whanganui swimmer Paige Conley’s golden run has continued at the national secondary school championships, with 570 swimmers from 165 schools from all around the country competing.

The 13-year-old, a double gold medal winner at the national age group level this year, claimed another at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre.

She won the 200 metres butterfly, claimed a silver in the 200m freestyle - breaking the 2012 Whanganui short course record with a time of 2:15.50 - and finished off with bronzes in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

Blake Candish, 14, won bronzes in the 100m and 200m butterfly. His time of 2:18.69 in the 200m butterfly was enough to break Woody Martin’s 2006 Whanganui short course record of 2:19.06.

Whanganui Swimming Club spokesman Aaron Bunker said there were two things that made Conley a special swimmer - commitment and focus.

“No matter how much talent you’ve got, you’ve got to put in the work.

“Paige, along with all the kids who attended the secondary schools [champs], have become great role models for the younger generation coming through.”

Eli Abraham, Georgia Abraham, Ruby Hoekstra, Sophie Young-Wilson and Tegan Lowe all recorded multiple top-10 finishes at the meet.

There was extra hype around swimming at the moment thanks to the World Aquatic Championships in Japan, Bunker said.

New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather claimed bronze in the 400m freestyle last week.

The Dunedin 19-year-old finished behind Australia’s Ariane Titmus, who set a world record time, and the USA’s Katie Ledecky.

“Seeing a Kiwi on the podium next to them is amazing,” Bunker said.

“Then, we’ve got our own swimmers performing well nationally at the same time.”

New Zealand sent 15 swimmers to Japan, including four-time Commonwealth Games medallist Lewis Clareburt.

Bunker said the winter training programme was well under way.

“Things are a little bit harder with it being dark in the mornings and evenings but everyone is putting the mahi in to get the results.”

Attention now turns to October’s West Coast Championships, Whanganui’s premier swim meet.

■ Whanganui Swimming Club team results

Paige Conley (13 yrs age group) 1 200m Butterfly, 2 200m Freestyle, in a new Whanganui SC record time (13yrs) of 2:15.50, taking 1.2 seconds off Laura O’Keeffe’s previous record which had stood since 2012, 3 100m Freestyle and 3 100m Butterfly.

Blake Candish (14 yrs age group) 3 200m Butterfly in a new Whanganui SC record time (14yrs) of 2:18.69, breaking Woody Martin’s previous record of 2:19.06 which had stood since 2006, and 3 100m Butterfly.

Other Top 10 placings included:

Blake Candish (14 yrs age group) 6 50m Butterfly, 7 50m Breaststroke, 100m IM.

Eli Abraham (14 yrs age group) 50m Backstroke, and a time of 59.33 for the 50m Freestyle, recording his first official sub-60 second 100m.

Georgia Abraham (17-18 yrs age group) 7 50m Backstroke.

Paige Conley (13 yrs age group) 4 200m IM, 7 100m IM, 9 200m Backstroke.

Ruby Hoekstra (15 yrs age group) 8 100m Breaststroke, 8 200m Breaststroke.

Sophie Young-Wilson (15 yrs age group) 7 100m Backstroke, 9 50m Backstroke, 9 50m Freestyle.

Tegan Lowe (14 yrs age group) 8 50m Breaststroke, 8 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke.