This weekend at the New Zealand Zonal Championships in Auckland 14 year old Mya Rasmussen took three event and set two New Zealand age group records.
Rasmussen won the 15 and under 400 and 800 freestyle as well as the 400 IM.
She posted a 4:51.85 in the 400 IM breaking her own record of 4:53.89 which she set on January 19th. She also set a new mark in the 800 freestyle winning the event in a time of 8:56.96 breaking Laura Baker‘s record of 9:00.02 which was set in 2008.
The Zonal Championships was comprised of 160 up and coming swimmers from four different zones.
The Harlequins were a team comprised of swimmers from Northland, Auckland and Counties-Manukau and won the team title with 1978 points followed by Makos (1750.5), Aquaknights (1678) and the All Stars (1646.5).
One of the team’s the top swimmers in the competition was 2012 Olympian Steven Kent. Kent competed in the men’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay in London.
“It was a pretty good event, a mix of everything and people like me doing a mix of events they don’t normally do so it was a lot of fun and to chuck in that Legends Relay there in the middle was pretty awesome,” said Kent.
“Two years ago we came last. We didn’t have enough members even last time, so this time to come out and it feels like we dominated a lot of events so it’s pretty awesome to do it for the region.”
“For me winning the 200m freestyle was pretty cool because I had the joker on me so I had to step up for the team and win that for the team and I guess also for me the Legends Relay was pretty special.”
Each team in the competition could nominate one athlete as a ‘joker’ who would then earn double the points they earned in their event.
Multiple winners in the senior division included Emma Robinson in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle, Nathan Capp in the 400m and 1500m freestyle, Laura Quilter in the 50m and 100m freestyle, Bradlee Ashby in the 200m and 400m individual medley, George Schroder in the 100m and 200m breaststroke and Helena Gasson in the 100m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley.
Bobbi Gichard, Gabrielle Fa’amausili, Satori Dobbie, Tame Govaerts, Yeonsu Lee, Lewis Clareburt and Sam McKenzie all collected two wins a piece in the junior category.
The event also included a 1000 meter freestyle relay and a celebrity charity relay.
Yeonsu Lee, 15, also set a NZ record and went under the World Junior time for 200 fly – getting 2m 15.12s in one of her two wins.