Howick Pakuranga (HPK) swimmer Daniel Hunter showed he is still the Kiwi sprint king, picking up the men’s 50m freestyle title in 22.60s at the Aon NZ Open Championships in Auckland.
Hunter, who has already qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships, led the field from start to finish as 15-year-old Michael Pickett (North Shore) showed he’s snapping at the heels of Hunter, finishing second in 23.13s.
In the morning heats, Pickett swam a 23.08s to break his own 15 years national age group record.
The women’s sprint final was a much closer tussle with Rebecca Moynihan (Raumati) winning her first national open title.
Moynihan’s winning time was 26.22s, with Chelsey Edwards (SwimZone) second in 26.37s and Carina Doyle (North Shore) finishing third in 26.48s.
Earlier in the evening, Doyle won the women’s 400m freestyle final in 4:16.40s from a fast finishing Erika Fairweather (Neptune), 4:16.89s PB, and Eve Thomas (Coast), 4:17.60s PB.
For Fairweather and Thomas, their times were well within the selection and qualification criteria for Junior Pan Pacific Championships and Youth Olympic Games.
An almost six second personal best for Fairweather also turned out to be a new 14-years national age record, her second of the meet.
Zac Reid (Aquabladz) continues to have a strong meet, winning his third national open title of the week, this time in the men’s 800m freestyle final.
Reid’s time of 8:01.87s is also a 18 years national age group record.
In the Para events, both mens’s and women’s 50m freestyle multi-class had very close finishes.
For the men’s title Tama Solouota (Howick Pakuranga), 27.13s, won his 4th title of the championships with a 0.31s win over David Beck (MAGS), 27.44s, in the final.
In the women’s final, only 0.22s separated Tupou Neiufi (32.08s) and Jane Fox (32.30s).
Neiufi (Howick Pakuranga) established a handy lead in the first twenty five meters before Fox (Orca) came storming home in a new personal best time.
Lewis Clareburt (Capital) won the men’s 200m individual medley final in 2:00.65s from Wilrich Coetzee (North Shore), 2:02.81s and Jonathan Rutter (Roskill), 2:03.53s.
There was disappoint for Corey Main (Howick Pakuranga) who was aiming to qualify for the Pan Pacific champs. Main was disqualified from the final of the men’s 100m backstroke final.
Athletes to achieve selection or qualification times for international events include: Eve Thomas (JPP and YOG), Erika Fairweather (JPP and YOG), Gina Galloway (JPP and YOG), Greta Agnew (JPP), Kyla Alexander (JPP), Chelsey Edwards (YOG), Zac Reid (JPP and YOG) and Quinton Hurley (JPP and YOG).
