Multiple meets for Whanganui swimmers

Members of the Whanganui team at the Feilding Spring Carnival.

It was a busy weekend on the swim front. Multiple meets, a host of personal bests (PBs) and medals, a Whanganui age group record and a 400m butterfly thrown in for good measure!

On Saturday, October 19, coach Richard Gheel and a team of six travelled to the Capital Classic long course meet at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre as race prep for end-of-year meets.

Paige Conley, 15, readily accepted the challenge of swimming a 400m freestyle event as butterfly.

There were some encouraging swims including a number of long course (50m pool) personal bests. Isabella Boden-Cave, 11, made an impressive debut at her first competitive meet, improving her 50m freestyle time by 1.3 seconds.

After some family travel arrangements like something out of the Krypton Factor, Ziva Bunker, 12, then travelled up to Hamilton to compete at the St Paul’s Long Course Speed Meet with her sights set on securing additional long course qualifying times for the upcoming New South Wales Champs.

Ryleigh Dorricott (lane 7, in the orange cap) ready to launch into the 200m breaststroke.

Not only did she boost her tally to nine qualifying times, her time of 2:39.59 in the 200m individual medley also sliced 1.7 seconds off Bianca Vettise’s previous long course record for a Whanganui 12-year-old female set back in 2006.

Closer to home, a team of 16 - including three swimmers who continued on from Wellington - had a blast at Feilding Amateur Swim Club’s Spring Carnival, all while delivering some great results.

Ziva Bunker, 12, set a new Whanganui age group record in the long course 200m individual medley.

Whanganui swimmers amassed a haul of personal bests, medals and spot prizes and there was rapturous applause from around the pool as Paige Conley, 15, completed the 400m freestyle swimming butterfly (in 5:17.61).

Special mention to Maia Comp and Nora Gilbert who each gained valuable experience and can be extremely proud of their swims at their first away meet. Maia achieved three PBs while Nora set a PB in both of her events.

Isabella Boden-Cave, 11, swims at her first competitive meet.

A few of the many other highlights included: five PBs each for Eli Webber-Kelly, Lachlan Baskett, Nazareno Mazzieri and Thaara Goh Ramesh, four PBs each for Ataahua Wilson-Winterburn, Molly Baskett and Maia Paki, and three PBs each for Lola Leport-Symonds and Zoe Baskett.

The club would like to express its gratitude to their ongoing sponsors, especially NZCT, David Jones Motors, Hayman Industries and Loaders because the support of sponsors is vital in keeping the sport affordable for Whanganui swimmers.

■ Their next major event is the Steelformers West Coast Champs, Whanganui’s premier annual swim meet, set to take place at the Splash Centre on Sunday, November 3.