Photo credit above: Swimming NZ, credit to BW Media.

The life of a fulltime athlete, a fulltime student and a sports prefect at Wellington College is a demanding one.
But it’s worth it as Finn Harland has a lot to look forward to in September, when he joins the New Zealand Junior swimming team as the only male in the group competing at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Israel.

Last month, Finn was in record breaking form in his age group at both the New Zealand and National Age Group Championships meets and broke several regional and national records - including one twice in one day.

At the New Zealand championships in Auckland, he clocked 55.45 seconds in the heats of the 100m backstroke, qualifying him for the Junior World championships. He went even quicker in the final, clocking 55.33 seconds and breaking the 17 year’s Wellington age group record for the second time that day.

The following day he broke a National Age Group record in the 50m backstroke, clocking 25.67 for an open bronze medal, just 0.01 seconds from a silver medal.  He also won a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and last year at Nationals got a Wellington record in the  4x100m freestyle  relay, both with members of his Capital Swim Club.   

He also set some freestyle regional records last month, lowering the 17 year's 50m freestyle mark from 24.05 seconds to 23.57 seconds at the New Zealand champs, and lowered it further to 23.53 at the National Age Group championships in Napier less than two weeks later.   

He also broke the 100m freestyle regional record, shaving almost a second off the previous mark set by his training partner and none other than double gold Commonwealth Games gold medallist and former College Sport Wellington Sportsman of the year Lewis Clareburt. 

But it is the backstroke events that Finn will be competing in at the Junior World Championships.

“I will be just doing the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke,” Finn told College Sport Wellington. With heats, semis and finals in each of those events and the schedule the way it is, that doesn’t really allow me to enter more events.

“My coach Gary Hollywood and I decided I have a lot of potential as a backstroker and so the focus is on those events over freestyle – I am mainly a backstroker, I kind of think of freestyle as kind of my party trick, I guess!”

Finn will utilise his experience of swimming for New Zealand at last year’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii.

“Some of those people I swam against at Pan Pacs last year will also be at the World Championships, so I know what to expect and know what I need to bring to do well.”

He set high expectations at Pan Pacs. “A lot of people around me were happy with my swims, but I wasn’t as happy as everyone else was. I made a couple of A finals and a B final in my 100m backstroke and did a few of my best times in my 200m backstroke and I swam good in the relays.”

The heat in Hawaii was tough to adjust to. “I wasn’t really used to the heat, especially during the day, and it was also an outdoor pool.”

The pool in Israel is an air conditioned indoor pool. “That is good, as it will be coming out of their summer, and apparently it is a fast pool, so I am looking forward to it.”

Finn trains alongside Clareburt and three others at the Capital Swim Club . “We have a good group of guys and we all train in the high-performance squad under Swimming New Zealand, which has funded Lewis until the Paris Olympics next year and we are all benefitting off that.”

Finn is the youngster in the group. “They range in age from 23, 21 down to two who are 19 and in their second year at university. It is nice being the young one of the group, but it doesn’t come easy but it is good fun and I definitely wouldn’t want to come to training and be the best one there.”

The squad trains eight times a week at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre at Kilbirnie, both morning and afternoon, plus another two sessions in the gym, with Sundays off to rest and prepare to do it all again.

Former Scots College student Clareburt had this to say about Finn:

“Finn joined our squad a year or so ago and has really come into a league of his own. This year has been a bit of a breakthrough year for him getting himself on the Junior Worlds team. It’s a huge achievement to qualify for that and it shows with him being the only male on the team. I can’t wait to see how he develops over the next few years.”

Finn drives himself everywhere, but for nutrition he has the help of his mum.

“My mum is a nutritionist, so she is very good at keeping on top of what we eat and making sure we are fuelling our bodies with the right sort of stuff, so that is definitely very helpful having her there with all that knowledge.”

Swimming is naturally Finn’s sole focus now, but he grew up playing several other sports, from tennis to rugby to basketball to surfing to golf.

Finn also has a younger brother, aged 15, who swims a bit but is also into surf lifesaving and cross country.

Finn has been swimming competitively for several years and got hooked on the racing bug. “When I was younger there used to be internal club meets and my friends and I would race each other at these. Then from there we went to regional meets, and then to national meets, and I ended up really enjoying it and I have kept it going and looking forward.”

The New Zealand Junior Swimming team heads overseas in mid-August, first to Dubai for a two week training camp and then on to Israel. Before that, Finn will be training with coach Gary Hollywood and his Capital Swim Club teammates and competing in a couple of meets.

“I will look to be doing some racing at the Wellington Swimming Championships and at the New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships for Wellington College.”

The NZSS Championships are in Wellington at his home pool at Kilbirnie and is a team event where teams and schools compete for points by entering swimmers in as many events as possible – akin to the McEvedy Shield Athletics meet. Wellington College are past winners of the swimming nationals having last won the male division in 2018.  
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Looking further ahead, Finn will return home from Israel to sit Level 3 NCEA exams. He has no firm plans for next year, but one option is to win a swimming scholarship at a US university.

​After a Covid-disrupted 2020, Westlake Boys’ High School are back on top as the leading New Zealand boys swimming school.

The 2019 New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships boys competition winners chose not to compete at last year’s re-scheduled event that was pushed back because of the disruptions and lockdowns.
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But this past weekend Westlake BHS were emphatic winners of this year’s title. Their winning points tally was 1,022 points, with second placed Palmerston North Boys’ High School finishing the meet on 477 points and third placed Hamilton Boys’ High School on 377.

​Westlake BHS went into the championships held at the nearby National Aquatic Centre with a competitive team of 29 swimmers and a strong balance between the junior and senior team members.

Westlake BHS team manager and swimming TIC Andrea Dawber said the swimmers were motivated to win back the top boys school and boys relay trophies.

“Throughout the event there was a great display of team camaraderie where the senior and junior swimmers were cheering one another on, especially during the relays, and it was great to see a sense of brotherhood amongst the team,” Andrea said.
​
The NZSS Swimming Championships is very much a team event. Points are awarded on a sliding scale in every race from 26 for gold to 2 for last. The school with the most points at the end is declared the winner, so all points can be vital. 

​“It is so rare to represent your school in swimming and to be on such a prestigious stage and the team came together under the crest of the swan and truly lived up to the school moto Virtute Experiamur (Let courage be thy test).
​
“At the end of session 3 we were up on the points table for the top boys relay team with 121 points, second place going to Palmerston North Boys’ High School on 81 points and top boys school with 470 points. But we knew we had to hold onto this place and were motivated to increase the margin.
​
“One of the highlights for the team was celebrating the success of Cameron Gray in the 50m Backstroke, gaining the NZ Age Group record, but also in the 8 x 50m Freestyle relay (Daniel, Ivan, Andrei, Lukas, Howard, Matthew, Larn, Cameron). Cameron is the captain and in his final year of school they were swimming for much more than the gold medal but rather as a final hoorah for Cam as well.”

This was Westlake BHS’s fourth win, following back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016 and 2019. See below for a list of winners.

The girls trophy was won by Diocesan School for Girls, who edged Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in a thriller. Dio’s final points total was 575 points and EGGS’ 572. Baradene College was third on 516.

Last year’s overall winners Rangitoto College were convincing winners of the Co-Ed Cup tophy, with 1607 points. Mount Albert Grammar School with 677 and MacLeans College with 645 were second and third.

Western Heights High Schools won the Para-swimming competition.

Westlake Boys’ High School results
 
Individual medals won
Gold: 11
Silver: 13
Bronze: 13
 
Relay medals won
Gold: 6
Bronze: 3
 
Total medals won
Gold: 17
Silver: 13
Bronze: 16
 
Standout individual results:
​
Cameron Gray
1st 100IM 17-18yrs
2nd 100Back 17-18
1st 100Fr 17-18
1st 50 Fly 17-18
1st 50Bk 17-18 New Zealand Age Group Records (Was 24.62 NOW 24.44)
2nd 50Fr 17-18
1st 100Fr 17-18yrs
1st 50 Fly 17-18yrs
 
Howard Lu
3rd 100IM 15yrs
3rd 100Back 15yrs
3rd 50 Fly 15yrs
2nd 100Fly 15yrs
3rd 200IM 15yrs
 
Ivan Lu
2nd 400m Fr
2nd 100Fr 15 Yrs
2nd 200 Fr 15yrs
 
Daniel Zheng
1st 50Br 16yrs
1st 50 Fly 16yrs
2nd 50 Fr 16yrs
 
Matthew Zheng
2nd 100Back 14yrs
3rd 200Bk 14yrs
2nd 50m Bk 14yrs
 
Joseph Shin
3rd 100IM 13yrs
1st 200Br 13yrs
1st 50Br 13yrs
2nd 100Br 13yrs
3rd 200IM 13yrs
 
NZSS Secondary School Swimming Championships boys winners

The NZSS Swimming Championships have been contested on an annual basis since 2011.

Wellington College won the inaugural meet, which included one trophy awarded to the best overall boys, girls and co-ed school,  but since 2012 separate trophies have awarded to the leading boys, girls, Co-Ed schools and Para schools.

2011: Wellington College
2012: Wellington College
2013: Wellington College
2014: Auckland Grammar School
2015: Westlake Boys’ High School
2016: Westlake Boys’ High School
2017: Tauranga Boys’ College
2018: Wellington College
2019: Westlake Boys’ High School
2020: Rangitoto College
2021: Westlake Boys’ High School

17-year-old Erika Fairweather  is a contender for the youngest New Zealand athlete at the Olympic Games. The Dunedin Kavanagh College student says she's thrilled to be heading to her first Olympic Games.
 
“The feeling of making my first Olympic team is still so surreal. I've worked so hard for this moment and it is all coming together – it’s so exciting!" said Fairweather.
 
"Representing New Zealand and wearing the fern at the Olympic Games is a dream I've had for as long as I can remember, so words don't really do this feeling justice.”
 
Erika competed in the 2019 FINA World Championships and was the youngest swimmer (age 15 at the time) to make top 20 for the 200m and 400m Freestyle distances.
 
She went on to win gold in the 200m Freestyle event at the 2019 World Junior Championships the following month. Erika has been selected to swim the 200 and 400m Freestyle events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

A high school student at Kavanagh College in Dunedin, Erika swims under Lars Humer, the New Zealand Olympic Coach for Tokyo.

Erika competed in the 2019 FINA World Championships and was the youngest swimmer (age 15 at the time) to make top 20 for the 200m and 400m Freestyle distances.

The freestyle swimmer went on to win gold in the 200m Freestyle event at the 2019 World Junior Championships the following month. Erika has been selected to swim the 200 and 400m Freestyle events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Erika has broken an impressive number of NZ age group records over the years. In 2019, Erika broke Rebecca Perrot’s 43-year-old age group (15-years) record in the 400m Freestyle. The previous record was set at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

​The previous two NZSS Swimming Championships girls events came down to a two-school race between Waikato Diocesan School for Girls and Auckland Diocesan School for Girls.

In 2017, Waikato Dio won the top girls’ school title with 955 points to Auckland Dio’s 903 points. In 2018, the Aucklanders beat their Waikato counterparts with 1115 points to 1004.5 points.

This year Waikato Dio and Auckland Dio once again finished first and second, but this time the winning margin for winning school Waikato Dio was emphatic.

Waikato Dio won the four-day meet that was contested in their ‘home’ pool at Waterworld in Hamilton with 1391 points. Auckland Dio were second with 691, with Westlake Girls’ High School third with 554.
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The NZSS Swimming Championships is a team event. Points are awarded in every race, with the school with the most points at the end declared the winner. Twenty six points are awarded for a first place in a race, 21 for a second, 17 for a third and so on a sliding scale. 

​Waikato Dio team manager Jane Schilov said that having the meet in their own backyard helped as they were able to field a larger team. But also targeting the relays proved a winning strategy.

“We were disappointed to miss out last year so wanted to present strong relay teams in a hope that would help us take out top school this year,” said Schilov.

“Having two teams in the 8 x 50m relay was exciting and the hype around this particular event was great to be part of. Watching our A team pull away and take the win was very impressive.

“We were leading the whole way by quite a significant margin. In 2017 when we took out top girls school it did come down to one of the final relays which we won and that pushed us to the top of the points. Having a strong group to compete in all the relays as well as having A and B teams for each relay was fantastic,” Schilov added.

Waikato Dio fielded an 18-strong team, some of the swimmers doing 10-12 events and then relays on top of that.

Laura Littlejohn and Gina McCarthy were standouts for the winning school, but they had ten swimmers achieve a top 8 placing in more than one event each which contributed to the points.

The swimmers were well supported throughout the NZSS meet.

“Thanks must go to all the parents that supported the girls through the event by team managing and cheering them on, said Schilov.

“It was also very special watching these girls cheer each other on and show pride in swimming for their school.”

Waikato Dio’s swimmers have only had a brief break from the pool, with the next event for many being the New Zealand Short Course Championships in Auckland in the first week of the school holidays.

Schilov said that swimming is the main focus for most of Waikato Dio’s swim team, who mostly swim for clubs outside of school, but some play other sports for the school as well.

In the boys section, Westlake Boys’ High School were also dominant, winning the overall boys’ school trophy with 1136 points to second placed Tauranga Boys’ College with 693 and third placed Auckland Grammar School with 575.

Mount Albert Grammar School won the overall Co-ed school with 858 points to second placed Pakuranga College with 617 and third placed Rangitoto College with 557.
​
There were 27 girls, 24 boys and 69 co-ed schools competing in the 2019 NZSS Swimming Championships. 

Waikato Diocesan top 8 results:
 
14 Year Old Girls
Amelia de Lautour
2nd 100m IM
7th 200m Freestyle
7th 100m Freestyle
5th 200m Backstroke
3rd 100m Butterfly
5th 400m Freestyle
8th 100m Backstroke
1st 50m Butterfly
5th 200m IM
8th 50m Freestyle
 
15 Year Old Girls
Laura Littlejohn
1st 100m IM
1st 200m Freestyle
3rd 200m Butterfly
1st 100m Freestyle
3rd 50m Breaststroke
2nd 100m Butterfly
6th 400m Freestyle
3rd 100m Backstroke
2nd 50m Butterfly
1st 50m Freestyle
Minnie Glover
4th 50m Backstroke
4th 100m Freestyle
4th 200m Backstroke
8th 100m Butterfly
5th 100m Backstroke
Kelly Lewis
3rd 200m Freestyle
3rd 100m Freestyle
6th 100m Butterfly
5th 400m Freestyle
6th 50m Butterfly
6th 50m Freestyle
 
16 Year Old Girls
Hannah Morgan
6th 200m Breaststroke
4th 100m Breasstroke
5th 50m Breaststroke
Sarah Wilson
2nd 100 IM
5th 100m Breasstroke
6th 50m Breaststroke
4th 100m Butterfly
4th 50m Butterfly
5th 200m IM
Holly Isaac
5th 100M IM
4th 50m Backstroke
8th 50m Breaststroke
5th 200m Backstroke
4th 100m Backstroke
 
17-18 Year Old Girls
Gina McCarthy
2nd 200m Breaststroke
2nd 100m IM
2nd 200m Freestyle
2nd 50m Backstroke
3rd 200m Butterfly
3rd 100m Freestyle
2nd 50m Breaststroke
1st 200m Backstroke
1st 400m Freestyle
1st 100m Backstroke
1st 200m IM
3rd 50m Freestyle
Sarah Miller
5th 100m IM
3rd 200m Freestyle
2nd 200m Butterfly
4th 100m Freestyle
3rd 200m Backstroke
3rd 100m Butterfly
4th 400m Freestyle
4th 100m Backstroke
5th 50m Butterfly
3rd 200m IM
5th = 50m Freestyle
Madison Chapman
5th 200m Freestyle
5th 100m Freestyle
6th 200m IM
5th = 50m Freestyle
 

Waikato Diocesan Relay results: 
 
Girls 15 & Under
200m Medley Relay
● 1st - Minnie Glover, Laura Littlejohn, Amelia de Lautour and Kelly Lewis
400m Freestyle Relay
● 1st - Minnie Glover, Brooke Pyle, Kelly Lewis and Laura Littlejohn
200m Freestyle Relay
● 1st Minnie Glover, Brooke Pyle, Kelly Lewis and Laura Littlejohn
​
Girls 16 & Over
200m Medley Relay
● 1st - Holly Isaac, Hannah Morgan, Sarah Miller and Gina McCarthy
● 8th - Xanthe Wainui-Mackle, Sarah Wilson, Madison Chapman and Charlotte Gilchrist
400m Freestyle Relay
● 1st - Sarah Wilson, Sarah Miller, Madison Chapman, Gina McCarthy
● 5th - Holly Isaac, Amelia de Lautour, Hannah Morgan and Xanthe Wainui-Mackle
200m Freestyle Relay
● 2nd - Sarah Wilson, Sarah Miller, Madison Chapman and Gina McCarthy
● 6th - Olivia Bayne, Hannah Morgan, Holly Isaac and Amelia de Lautour
Girls 13-18 8 x50m Freestyle Relay
● 1st - Kelly Lewis, Sarah Miller, Minnie Glover, Madison Chapman, Sarah Wilson, Brooke
Pyle, Gina McCarthy and Laura Littlejohn
● 6th - Holly Isaac, Sarah Gutsell, Olivia Bayne, Estella Wainui-Mackle, Xanthe Wainui-
Mackle, Charlotte Gilchrist, Amelia de Lautour and Hannah Morgan

Southland’s Sophie Shallard has been putting her versatile array of sporting skills to good use lately on both land and water.
​
The year 11 St Peter’s College, Gore, student recently won the U16 race at the Southland Secondary School Triathlon Championships and then two days later won the U16 Otago/Southland Water Skiing Championships, before returning to school to break three records in distance races at her school’s schools athletics championships.

“Last year I came second in the same event, so it was really good to win this time,” says Sophie about her water skiing win.

The water skiing is a slalom event, competing on one ski at speed in a zigzag course that has six buoys on each side to get around.

For Sophie, water skiing is mainly for fun. “Water skiing is one of the fun things that I do in the weekends and spare time - although we do go down as a group every so often for practice and lessons.”

The age-grade records she broke at her school’s athletics day were the 800m, 1500m and the 3000m.
​
She also has a strong sporting background in figure skating and hockey.

​But none of these sports above are her priority.

“Swimming is my main sport,” Sophie explains. “I have been to the swimming age grade nationals twice. The first year I came second in the 400m freestyle and third in the 400m IM [making eight finals overall], and last year I came third in the 400m IM and fourth in the 200m butterfly.”

One of  her main rivals is Kavanagh College, Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairbrother, who represented New Zealand at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 and was the youngest athlete of all countries in Argentina. “She cleaned up, she won all the races that I placed in!”

Sophie is currently training for this year’s National Age-Group Championships in Wellington from 16-20 April.
​
She has been swimming competitively since she was young, and she swims for Hokonui Aquatics and trains locally at the Gore Aquatic Centre for the most part with year 12 St Peter’s male swimmer Xander Marsh.  “But I am also going down to Invercargill once a week to train with the Southland squad ahead of Nationals.
“In the build up to Nationals I am training in the pool six days a week and running on the other day.” 

​How many triathlons has she done? “I have done the Southland secondary schools one for the past two years [winning both years] and I did the Otago-Southland one recently that was the on at the same time as the Wanaka challenge. I came third in that but fourth overall as there was a competitor from Rangi Ruru.”

She missed last weekend’s SISS race in Oamaru as she was competing in the Enduro running race in Te Anau.

What about more triathlons – or duathlons - in the future?

“Last year I realised that my swimming helped my fitness for my running.

“I will have to develop my biking though - the swim and the run are definitely my best parts of triathlon. I do want to do more, but at the moment swimming is my priority.”

Sophie also has experience on the running track at a regional and national level.

“My running picked up last year and I went to the South Islands [SISS Athletics Championships] and I came fourth in the 800m and second in the 1500m.”

She subsequently made the semi-finals of the 800m and the final of the 1500m NZSS Championships in Dunedin in the Junior Girls but admits she was unfit  and underachieved, finishing well outside her PBs in both races.

She says she probably won’t be attending the upcoming SISS Athletics Championships in Nelson at the end of this month owing to a clash with her school ball, which she also missed last year for the same reason. But she hopes to compete in the New Zealand Championships in Wellington in December. “Hopefully I will go this year and I will train harder and get fitter and see how I perform.”

Plus there is also the NZSS Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in the middle of the year in Timaru, Sophie finishing midfield in the Junior Girls race in Taupo in 2018.

With swimming and running coming together to form two thirds of triathlon, how does water skiing fit in, if at all?

“Water skiing is more about technique. You have got to have good upper body strength. But it is a bit about fitness but more about how you do it.”

Sophie used to compete in figure skating and plays hockey for her school and at age grade level for Southland. “A couple of years ago I went to the figure skating nationals and got second in my grade.”

“I tried to juggle figure skating, swimming, a bit of running and hockey. Ice skating isn’t that big in New Zealand so I placed more priority in swimming.”

As well as sport, Sophie has also started NCEA Level 1 at St Peter’s so schoolwork needs to fit in there somewhere too.
​
Last but not least, she thanks her family for their support. “My mum is very dedicated to driving me everywhere! I also go to the hostel when I go to Invercargill to make things easier.”

The NZSS Swimming Championships have been contested on an annual basis since 2011.

Wellington College won the inaugural meet, which included one trophy awarded to the best overall boys, girls and co-ed school, and they won the next two boys meets after that when separate trophies were awarded to the leading boys, girls and co-ed schools.

Westlake Boys’ High School (twice), Auckland Grammar School and Tauranga Boys’ College won the Boys Trophy between 2014-2017.

This year’s championships were held at the Wellington Aquatic Centre over six sessions from last Thursday to Sunday, and it was once again Wellington College that emerged victorious on the final day, reclaiming the title with a completely new team from the one that last won in 2013.
​
The Wellington College team won 27 medals (eight gold, eight silver and 11 bronze), with 16 of 26 swimmers contributing points, across five age divisions,  in a short-course (25m) format. 

Team co-captain and year 13 swimmer Thomas Watkins won four golds on his own and led by example in and out of the water, but said it was a genuine team effort that was the key to victory.

“The meet started with a relay session on Thursday and at that point we were behind St Andrew’s. We had a look at it and we managed to get behind every race and come through in the end on Sunday.”
​
It was tight throughout. “I think we were ahead after most of the sessions from Friday to Sunday but it was close and there was always a team right behind us.”

Points in each race were awarded for the first 10 places, on a sliding scale of 26, 21, 17, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 points per race.

“We had a lot of swimmers, myself included, who entered many events that they don’t normally compete in, and while they weren’t getting the medals they were still getting ninth and 10th and accumulating those smaller points which were also very important.”
​
​Wellington College won with 830 points, ahead of St Andrew’s College on 766 and Pakuranga College in third on 571.

Individually, Atakura Julian was also strong in the same grade as Watkins. Eligh Ashby did extremely well to successfully clean-sweep the butterfly events in the 15 year age group for his three gold medals.  Both Dillon Raimona-Pahetongia and Jonas Lilley were similarly prominent.
​
“Many of us are part of the same swim club [Capital] and we are all swimming together quite regularly, so it wasn’t too hard to get a good team bond going,” said Watkins. 

Wellington College’s team was also swimming for the school’s swimming master Martin Vaughan who is retiring from this role this year, having been in charge of the school’s swimming programme since 1983.

“We all wanted to get up for Mr Vaughan who has done a great job for many years and we want to keep the swimming tradition going for the school that he has been a huge part of."

Whilst Wellington College won a three-peat between 2011-2013, this is was the first taste of success for every team member. “I have been to every NZSS swimming championships since I have been year 9, but this was my first win, so it was good for us year 13s to cap it off.”  
Watkins said that there are a number of swimmers coming through so the future looks bright for the school.
For many of the elite swimmers, the NZSS meet also served as preparation for the New Zealand Short Course Swim Championships at the Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre from 2-6 October.

Watkins trains with the Capital swim squad and swimming is his sole sporting focus. “I played hockey in year 9 and 10 but I let that go because swimming takes up my time. I am in the water about 20 hours a week so it gets a bit taxing.”

At the end of August he competed at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Fiji, competing against the best U19 swimmers from countries such as the USA, Australia, Japan, China and Canada.  

"It was a great trip. I competed in the 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 400m IM. I hadn’t really swum in an outdoor pool before so I struggled a little bit on my first day in the 100m backstroke and I finished 12th overall. Then in the 200m back and 400m IM I made both A finals and I PB’ed in the morning and I finished 8th in the backstroke and seventh in the IM.”

Meanwhile, Auckland’s Diocesan School For Girls won the Girls Trophy at the NZSS meet, finishing on 1115 points and head of second placed Waikato Diocesan School on 1004.5 points, with a big gap to third-placed Wellington school Samuel Marsden Collegiate on 466.5 points.

St Andrew’s College won the Co-ed Trophy, ahead of Pakuranga and Kapiti Colleges.

Waikato Dio (girls), St Andrew’s College (boys) won the relay trophies

Some 64 boys, 62 girls and 10 co-ed teams took part.

Wellington College medals won at the 2018 NZSS Championships:

Thomas Watkins (Co-Captain) – 4 gold, 1 silver, 1  bronze medal  (Senior age group)
      gold 100m Individual Medley
      gold 200m Individual Medley
      gold 100m Backstroke
      gold 200m Backstroke
      silver 50m Backstroke
      bronze 100m Freestyle

Eligh Ashby (Captain) – 3 gold medals  (14 Year age group)
      gold 50m Butterfly
      gold 100m Butterfly
      gold 200m Butterfly

Atakura Julian – 4 silver, 2 bronze medals  (Senior age group)
      silver 100m Butterfly
      silver 200m Butterfly
      silver 100m Freestyle
      silver 200m Freestyle
      bronze 50m Butterfly
      bronze 400m Freestyle

Dillon Raimona-Pahetongia – 2 silver, 3 bronze medals  (13 Year age group)
      silver 50m Butterfly
      silver 100m Freestyle
      bronze 50m Backstroke
      bronze 50m Freestyle
      bronze 100m Butterfly
                                                                                               
Jonas Lilley – 1 silver, 2 bronze medals  (14 Year age group)
      silver 400m Freestyle
      bronze 200m Freestyle
      bronze 200m Individual Medley

Relay Medals
Senior relays – gold, silver & bronze medals
Thomas Watkins, Atakura Julian, Harrison Neal, Sean Register
      gold – 4 x 100m Freestyle relay
      silver – 4 x 50m Freestyle relay
      bronze – 4 x 50m Medley relay
​
15 Yrs and Under relays – 2 bronze medals
Jonas Lilley, Lucan Speirs, Eligh Ashby, Shane Maskell
      bronze – 4 x 100m Freestyle relay
      bronze – 4 x 50m Freestyle relay

The Full College Team is listed below:

Seniors       
Thomas Watkins (Co Captain)
Harrison Neal (Co Captain)
Atakura Julian
William Duggan
Queran de Vos
Max Reid
Jedi Morland Janes
Sean Register
David Ash

15 Years     
Ben Stirling
Luke Grover
Lucan Speirs
Ryan Double

14 Years     
Eligh Ashby
Jonas Lilley
Max Sheppard-Morison
Caelum de Vos
Jacob Watson
Regan Watson
Matthew Allen
Nicholas The
Shane Maskell

13 Years     
Dillon Raimona-Pahetogia
Jed McLachlan
Daniel Coster
Sean O’Connor-Close

Two Current New Zealand  secondary school swimmers will be competing in the pool at the upcoming Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

Gina Galloway from Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland  and Erika Fairweather from Kavanagh College  in Dunedin are the two swimmers selected.

They are part of a four-strong team that also includes Zac Reid who is in his first year studying at Massey University and Michael Pickett who now attends school in Brisbane.  
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Galloway (aged 17) is the granddaughter of Ngaire Galloway, who at 93 years old, is New Zealand’s oldest living Olympian, and like Galloway senior competes in the backstroke.
 
 Galloway junior won a bronze medal at the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games and will compete in the women’s 50m, 100m, 200m backstroke and 100m butterfly events.

“Growing up listening to her stories from her experiences and trips in swimming and the friends she's made through the sport all over the world has been really inspiring for me,” said Gina Galloway.
 
Otago’s Erika Fairweather (aged 14, Kavanagh College) will likely be one of the youngest athletes, if not the youngest athlete, competing at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games as her birthday (31/12/2003) is the cut-off date for eligible athletes.
 
Fairweather who now holds 12 national age-group records, including the girls 14 years 200m and 400m freestyle short course records set last weekend at the Otago Winter Championships.
 
“It feels pretty unreal and I am very honored that I get this opportunity to represent my country at this level,” Fairweather said.
 
Fairweather will compete in the women’s 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events.
 
Zac Reid (18 years, Massey University) who was a double gold medalist from the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games will compete in the men’s 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events.
 
The Taranaki swimmer won his first New Zealand Open Championship last month by beating Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Lewis Clareburt in the men’s 400m freestyle final. Reid went on to also win the 200m, 800m and 1500m New Zealand titles.
 
“I made this a goal a year ago and now being selected is an amazing feeling as I have put a lot of work and dedication in trying to gain selection,” says Reid.
 
The fastest 15-year-old freestyle sprinter in Australasia rounds out the New Zealand swimming team with Michael Pickett (15 years, St Peters Lutheran College) lining up in the men’s 50m and 100m freestyle events.
 
Earlier this year Pickett relocated to Brisbane to train at one of Australia’s most prestigious clubs, St Peter’s Western. Under the guidance of Kiwi coach John Gatfield, Pickett has improved steadily.
 
In April, Pickett blitzed the field to win the boys’ 15 years 50m freestyle at the Australian age-group championships.
 
Just last month Pickett finished second at the New Zealand Opens Championships in the men’s 50m and 100m freestyle to book his ticket to Buenos Aires.
 
“This selection is awesome news and gives me real confidence for my future. The competition's going to be a great stepping stone for the end goal of competing at an Olympic Games,” said Pickett.

The 15-year-old also highlighted his specific targets for the Youth Olympic Games.
 
“To qualify for the final, I want to go under 50 seconds for the first time in the 100m and get into 22 seconds for the 50m.”
 
New Zealand won two bronze medals in swimming at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games to Gabrielle Fa’amausili (50m backstroke) and Bobbi Gichard (100m backstroke).
 
The Youth Olympic Games will run from October 6-18th in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 
Chelsey Edwards (women’s 50m, 100m, 200m freestyle) and Quinton Hurley (men’s 200m, 400m, 800m freestyle) have been conditionally selected as non-travelling reserves.

She only took up her sport last season, but this November Wellington East Girls’ College’s Macy Burns joins the Junior Black Fins team for the 2018 Lifesaving World Youth Championships in Australia.
​
Macy, who represents Lyall Bay, New Zealand’s oldest surf lifesaving club, is the sole Wellington athlete in the 12-strong Junior Black Fins team who will compete in 43 pool and beach lifesaving events against over 40 countries over five days of competition in Adelaide. The Junior Black Fins will compete alongside the Black Fins team in the senior competition.

 “I only started surf lifesaving about this time last year,” she says. “I started training about a month before the pool champs last year and it just kind of went well!

 “I have been swimming my whole life and then I just got into surf lifesaving, it’s fun and I really enjoy it. None of my family has done it so I am the first one.”

The fact she also lives near Lyall Bay, the club she joined last summer and represents, is more coincidental.

In March Macy competed in her first New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Championships in Gisborne and won medals in the Women’s U19 Tube Rescue and Run-swim-run events.

She recently had a taste of international surf lifesaving competition with the New Zealand Surf Lifesaving High Performance team that finished second at the annual Sanyo Cup in Japan.

“That was first time representing a New Zealand team, so it was pretty exciting, “she says. “We weren’t far away from Australia either.”

With a strong background in swimming, Macy’s main events are related to that. “At the Junior World Champs I am not doing too many beach events, most of it is in the pool.”

Macy has been swimming competitively at a national and regional level since she was young, representing Wellington plenty of times at national swim meets. Her grandfather used to coach swimming.

She is the Wellington U15 Girls 100m backstroke record holder, setting her record time of 1.06.38 in year 9 in 2014.

Right now Macy is busy training in the pool with both the Capital Swim Club squad and with others such as Lyall Bay Club Captain Sam Lee and Libby Bradley, who is in the 2018 New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Open Squad and who won six U19 titles at the Nationals in March.

“That’s 10 sessions a week at the moment, if I go to all of them,” she says.

There’s a lot coming up before the World Junior Life Saving Championships in November. “We have got the regional [Central Surf lifesaving] pool champs at Naenae Pool in September, the Wellington club swimming champs, the New Zealand Secondary school swimming champs [in Wellington] and the National surf lifesaving pool nationals in October. So it’s a full-on period of competition coming up.”

As well as swimming and surf lifesaving, Macy used to play netball, underwater hockey, skiing and rowing. “I went to the Maadi Cup rowing regatta twice, but I stopped that because it was taking up too much of my time, it was hard to balance that my swimming.”

Macy, who is year 13 and in the same class at WEGC as Pulse netballer Tiana Metuarau, also has NCEA level 3 exams coming up in November whilst the surf lifesaving world champs are on. “I am quite lucky because the world champs only clashes with one of my exams and then my exam after that is quite spaced out and I have time to study for that.”

This coming summer Macy is looking forward to her second full season with the Lyall Bay Surf Club and then is likely to be going to Victoria University next year.

Hometown school Waikato Diocesan School for Girls and Tauranga Boys’ College won the respective girls and boys NZSS Swimming Championship titles in Hamilton over the weekend.

Waikato Dio emerged as the overall winner from the three-day meet featuring almost 150  schools and some 580 competitors.

They beat defending champions Auckland Diocesan in a two-horse race, with over 500 points separating the two Dio schools from third placed Pukekohe High School. 2015 champions Napier Girls’ High School finished fifth.
​
Tauranga Boys’ College won the boys division with 860 points, almost 200 clear of St Andrew's College on 666, the top finishing South Island school in girls and boys. Two-time defending champions Westlake Boys’ High School finished third. 

The NZSS Swimming Championships is very much a team event, over chasing individual wins and times as is the case in traditional swim meets.

Points were awarded in every race, with the school with the most points at the end declared the winner. Twenty six points were awarded for a first place in a race, 21 for a second, 17 for a third and so on a sliding scale. 

Waikato Dio’s win over Auckland Dio came down to the relays on the last day. Waikato had their noses in front for much of the meet, but Auckland took the lead on the last day. It came down to the final relay (16 and over Freestyle) and Waikato came out on top.

Waikato Dio completed an outstanding year in the pool, having already won the Waikato and North Island Swimming Championships.

For Waikato Dio, Year 10 Gina McCarthy was the standout swimmer from the weekend, winning nine gold medals, including wins in Freestyle (50m, 100m, 200m and 400m) Breaststroke (50m and 200m) Backstroke (100m and 200m) and IM (200m) races. Holly Isaac won a 10th gold for her school in the 100m Backstroke, while their also won six silvers and five individual bronzes and three relay golds.

Tarquin Magner was the individual star for Tauranga Boys’ with their junior swimmers contributing to much of their points tally. Magner won six gold, one silver and two bronze meals in the 13-year-old age group. Tristan Eiselen won five gold and two bronze medals in the 14-year-old age group. Others who medalled in this age group were Daniel Shanahan (one gold, three silver and one bronze), Travis Hudson (one gold and two silver) and Matthew Wagstaff (silver). The four swimmers combined to win two gold medals in the 200m Freestyle relay and 200m medley relay, where they set an unofficial meet record 1:56.61.
​
Another Bay of Plenty school was also celebrating, with the Mount Maunganui Intermediate swimming team at the top at the AIMS games for intermediate aged athletes.  

The winning Waikato Diocesan School for Girls team was:
Jess Chapman, Sophie Lewis, Grace Soo Choon, Maddi Chapman, Sarah Jeffcoat, Sarah Miller
Freya Sirl, Gina McCarthy, Holly Isaac, Lucy Farrell, Charlize Tordoff, Hannah Morgan, Kelly Lewis
Kiera Wallis, Sarah Wilson, Xanthe Wainui-Mackle
 
The winning Tauranga Boys’ College team was:
Liam Brown (captain), Declan Dempster, Daniel Shanahan, Matthew Wagstaff, Aidan Heath, Travis Hudson, Joseph Cook, Ben Paterson, Tarquin Magner, Tristan Eiselen, Louis Fitzjohn, Sam Jones, Jacob Browne.

Points:

Boys
1. Tauranga Boys' College 860
2. St Andrew's College 666
3. Westlake Boys’ High School 573
4. Hamilton Boys’ High School 494
5. Auckland Grammar School 460
 
Girls
1.Waikato Diocesan School 955 points
2. Diocesan School For Girls 903
3. Pukekohe High School 374
4.  Baradene College 354 
5. Napier Girls High School 307 

​Swimmer Chelsey Edwards returned from the Junior Commonwealth Games recently with a gold medal, but explains that accolade wasn’t the only highlight of her trip to the Bahamas.
 
“The team environment was awesome. Everybody supported each other and you could easily tell the New Zealanders in the crowd. We are really noisy,” the Chilton Saint James School (Lower Hutt) swimmer laughs.
 
Ironically Edwards, a member of the 4x200m freestyle mixed relay team, was a loner for much of the event. A serious virus consigned Chelsey to bed for several days.
 
“We arrived five days before competition and had two practices a day and I felt good. As the competition got closer I started to get sick. I was really nasal and had to be isolated from my teammates. I was struggling with the temperature and felt pretty bad,” Chelsey complains.

Chelsey was forced to revise her individual program as a result of the illness withdrawing from the 800m freestyle and failing to reach the final of the 200m and 400m freestyle.
 
Edwards was assigned the task of swimming the last leg of the 4x200m freestyle mixed relay. A weak link in the Kiwi chain could have been costly.
 
“I got better before the race, but I wasn’t 100%. I was so lucky we had a great team. We went from fastest to slowest and built a lead from the start. I was nervous on the last leg, but the lead was quite large. I was determined to swim well and actually went quicker than my individual race,” Chelsey reflects.
 
Remarkably it’s not the first time she has battled sickness for triumph. In April at the New Zealand Age Group Championships the 16-year-old developed a debilitating chest infection which went on to impair her breathing in all six of her races.
 
Despite the handicap Chelsey managed to win five medals, including gold in the 200m freestyle.
 
“I am not sure why I get sick just before meets. It’s really annoying, but I guess the nine trainings a week teaches you discipline and toughness, “Chelsey responds when asked to explain her resistance.
 
“I get a buzz out of achieving goals so you just battle through it, “she continued.
 
Chelsey began swimming at the age of six and was so impressive in her early lessons she was fast tracked to an older class. Her first competitive breakthrough was at the age of 12 when she won seven medals at the New Zealand Age Group Championships.

​Last October, she won five gold and four silver medals at the national short course championships, as well placing second among all ages for the 200m freestyle.
 
Gary Hollywood was the coach of the New Zealand team in the Bahamas. The vastly experienced campaigner described these Junior Commonwealth Games as a career highlight.
 
“We won 31 medals and 20 of those medals were in swimming. It’s been a tough time for the sport lately with funding cuts, but I am really proud of these young swimmers who performed so strongly. We tried to make a home away from the water in the Bahamas and I think we succeeded.”