Day 2 Wrap of the 2024 Apollo Projects New Zealand Age Group Swimming Championships
The second night of the 2024 Apollo Projects NZ Age Group Swimming Championships started off with both of the Women's 4 x 50m Medley Relay. United (2:00.96) swam to a dominant victory in the 15 & Under final, beating North Canterbury (2:06.09) and North Shore (2:06.76) by over 5 seconds. In the 16 & Over final, North Shore (1:53.52) proved too strong with Monique Wieruszowski showing her breaststroke power with a 30.77 split to give North Shore the win over Coast (1:57.40) and Club 37 (1:59.31).
The Men's 200m Freestyle saw an exciting finish in the 14 years final, with Leo English (Swim Rotorua - 1:59.51), swimming over both Soeren Wells (Wharenui - 1:59.78), and Alex Sandford (Coast - 2:00.02) to create an epic battle under the flags.
Brendon Visser (Coast) swam under the Junior Pan Pacific time on his way to winning the mens 17-18 year old final in the 200m Free. Visser showed his distance ability to power home after turning at the 150m with Kevin Zhang (Roskill) and Finn Harland (Coast) to finish in a 1:51.48
"I'm very very happy, that's under the JPP time which I'm really excited about. I've been doing a lot of back-end speed work in training so I'm pretty happy that paid off."
The Women's 200m Breaststroke 15 years final was one of closest races yet with 0.03 seconds separating Alex McIntosh (United - 2:41.28) and Bridie Quayle (Wharenui - 2:41.31).
The momentum kept on rolling for United in the Men's 200m Breaststroke 17-18 years final with the title going to Leo Arrowsmith (2:19.56) and his fellow teammates Jackson Kennard and Hara Hughes sharing the silver in 2:22.21.
"I could not be more happy, even though I didn't qualify for JPP it doesn't matter as long as I keep on improving."
As usual, the Women's 50m Freestyle offered some fast and furious racing. Amelia Bray (North Shore - 26.02) achieved the JPP qualifying time in the heat, but took the silver medal behind Zoe Pedersen (Coast - 25.95) in the final.
The closest race of the night went to the Men's 16 year old 50m Butterfly 16 years with Max Downey (St Peter's - 25.88) and Mason Wang (United - 25.89) being separated by 0.01 seconds. Downey took the national title after Jacob Story (Mt Eden - 25.75) won the visitor gold.
The night ended with both the 15 & Under and 16 & Over Men's and Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relays.
Swim Rotorua (3:43.69) were at the top of the field in the Men's 15 & Under final, ahead of Dumbea New Caledonia (visitor silver - 3:44.22), North Shore (3:44.50) and Coast (3:45.02) taking bronze.
Coast were the team to beat in the Men's 16 & Over Final with the clubs A & B relays taking both gold (3:27.70) and bronze (3:36.52) with United in silver (3:33.42).
"We knew we would be out quick and that the boys will pull through for the win. We have a great group of guys here, so it's great we could get the gold and bronze."
United took the victory in the Women's 15 & Under final, swimming over the top of Coast in the final leg of the race with Hamilton Aquatics taking bronze.
The final race of the evening saw the North Shore (3:51.89) ladies dominate the 16 & Over final winning by more than 5 seconds over Club 37 (3:57.20) and a strong finishing Howick Pakuranga (4:00.15 - visitor bronze) and Coast (4:00.97).
Congratulations to all swimmers who competed today! Whilst there are too many results across all age groups, we have tried to highlight some of the close races and results from the day.
Don't miss any of the action with opportunities to watch from the grandstand pool side or on the Whakaata Maori YouTube channel.
