Event Wrap - 2023 NZ Secondary School Open Water Swimming Championships
The 2023 New Zealand Secondary School Open Water Swimming Championships was held over the weekend in the beautiful Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) in Rotorua as part of the Banana Boat NZ Ocean Swim Series' Legend of the Lake. The event was a success with 179 students racing across three distances, the main 3.5km around the lake, the 1000m and the 500m.
3.5km Event
In the 16-19 years age group, Sophie Hay (Waikato Dio) showed her skill, not only coming first in her age group but also first overall, Talitha McEwan (Mt Maunganui College) and Elizabeth Brennan (Carmel College) followed closely finishing second and third respectively. The boy's group saw Ben Smith (Christchurch Boys' High) lead Quinn Boyle (Hamilton Boys' High) and Ben Kuggeleijn (Wellington College) to the line and finished the medal places for the 3.5km open water race.
The 14-15 years group saw Daniel Kregting (Mt Roskill Grammar) put on an incredible display to cross the line first (and second overall for the Banana Boat Series event behind Alex Dunkley), Henry Scholes (Aquinas College) and Charlie Shivnan (Tauranga Boys' College) following shortly after. For the girls, Olivia Bates (Epsom Girls Grammar), Eliana Brown (Awatapu College) and Hayley McIntyre (Waikato Dio) were the first three to finish, in that order.
In the 12-13 years old group, Tessa Scott (Waikato Dio) took home first place in the female 3.5 km open water, with Brooke Speers (Havelock North High) and Sophia Maltai-Spence (Mt Maunganui College) following in second and third. Alex Gibson (Burnside High) took first place in the boys, Brooklyn Taylor (New Plymouth Boys' High) came in second and Connor Miller (Bethlehem College) rounded out the podium places in third.
A huge congratulations to Daniel Kregting and Sophie Hay who were the first secondary school students across the line in the 3.5km event.
1km Event
In the 1000m open water, Talitha McEwan finished first for the females 16-19 years. In the 14-15 years girls, Olivia Bates brought home first place and India-Rose Scholes (Aquinas College) won her 12-13 girls category. For the boys, Angus Blair (Gisborne Boys' High) swam his way to first place for the 16-19 years boys, Orlando Hardie (Hamilton Boys' High) was the first to finish in the 14-15 group and Leo English (Rotorua Boys' High) won the 12-13 boys age group.
500m Event
Talitha McEwan put on a repeat performance for the 500-meter open water race, finishing first in the 16-19 years category, Olivia Bates also repeated her first for the 14-15 years girls, with Tessa Scott finishing first for the 12-13 girls. Quinn Boyle won his second medal of the day finishing first for the 16-19 boys, Ryleigh McEwan (Mt Maunganui College) won in the 14-15 boys group, and Brooklyn Taylor rounded out the firsts with the 12-13 years category.
Top School
The Top School award went to Mt Maunganui College with 253 points, more than double the second placed Waikato Diocesan School for Girls and third placed Awatapu College with 87 points. A total of 66 schools were involved in the event, a great turnout and congratulations to all of the schools who took part.
Makos Zonal Results
With the unfortunate postponement of the Akaroa event, we still provided an opportunity for the South Island to participate in a zonal competition. A big shout out to the 12 swimmers who travelled to Rotorua for the event.
You can see the results for the zonal events below and congratulations to Christchurch Girls' High School who comfortably took out the top school award for the Makos zone.
Congratulations to everyone who participated on the day and made the event epic. Thanks also to our partner at the Banana Boat NZ Ocean Swim Series for hosting the event.
