Erika Fairweather Breaks Sophia Batchelor’s 200 Free Age Record in NZ

2018 NEW ZEALAND OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

No new athletes attached their name to qualifying times for the senior Pan Pac Championships on day 2 of the New Zealand Open in Auckland, but the country’s youth talent continued to impress with their potential.

After 3 National Age Records were broken on Monday, another went down on Tuesday, in addition to 5 new Jr. Pan Pac and Youth Olympic Games selection standards.

The women’s 200 free was won by North Shore’s Carina Doyle in 2:00.27 – just a quarter-of-a-second away from the time she swam at the Commonwealth Games in April.

Behind her in 2nd place was 14-year old Erika Fairweather of the Neptune Swim Club in 2:02.56. That’s a new National Age Record, breaking the 2:02.91 done by Sophia Batchelor in 2010.

Fairweather already holds the record in this event for 13-year olds (2:06.89), and is well on her way to getting Batchelor’s 15-year olds record as well (which cucrrently stands at 2:02.45). That is, if Amadika Atkinson doesn’t get there first. Atkinson, who is a teammate of Doyle at North Shore, took 3rd place in 2:02.77, which left her about three-tenths shy of that record for 15-year olds. Both times are under the selection standard for the Jr. Pan Pac Championships.

Other Jr. Pan Pacs Selection Standards achieved are below.

The meet also featured a number of swimmers doubling up on Monday wins, becoming multi-event champions already through day 2 of the meet.

Winners Who Doubled Up

  • In the men’s 200 free to kick off the evening session, 18-year old Zac Reid held in a dead-heat with Jonathan Rutter until about 125 meters, where Reid took off. He wound up winning comfortably, but the final margin (1:50.35 to 1:51.31) belies the competitiveness of the race. Reid won the 400 free on Monday.
  • In the multi-class races, Tama Solouota from Howick Pakuranga picked up 2 wins on Tuesday alone, making 3 overall for the meet. The 15-year old won the men’s 100 breaststroke on Monday, and added wins in the 50 breaststroke (38.66) and 100 backstroke (1:08.83) on Tuesday, making him the meet’s first triple winner.
  • Vanessa Ouwehand from St. Peter’s won the 100 fly A-Final in a new personal best of 1:01.13. That follows on her win in the 50 fly on Monday. In the heats of that race, Hannah Bates posted her Jr. Pan Pacs qualifying time of 1:01.60, though in finals she was 3rd in just 1:01.99

JR. PAN PACS SELECTION STANDARDS:

  • B. 200 free – Zac Reid, Aquabladz New Plymouth, 1:50.35
  • G. 200 free – Erika Fairweathere, Neptune, 2:02.56
  • G. 200 free – Amadika Atkinson, North Shore, 2:02.77
  • G. 200 free – Chelsey Edwards, SwimZone, 2:03.50
  • G. 100 fly – Hannah Bates, Aquagym, 1:01.99

Other Event Winners:

  • 18-year old Lewis Clareburt won the men’s 400 IM in 4:17.52, taking the race by almost a 13-second margin of victory. He swam a 4:14 at the Commonwealth Games for a bronze medal, which was the New Zealand men’s only swimming medal at that event (Sophie Pascoe won a pair of golds in para events for the women).
  • Clara Smith of Northwave won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:34.08.
  • Julian Layton from the Heretaunga Sundevils won the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:11.55.
  • The men’s 100 fly final finished in a tie, with 18-year old Ben Carr and 21-year old Wilrich Coetzee posting matching 54.21s.

Team Scores After Day 2

Combined Top 5:

  1. North Shore – 1,660 points
  2. Howick Pakuranga – 1,338 points
  3. (TIE) United Swimming Club/Capital Swim Club – 746 points
  4. Selwyn Swim Club – 514 points

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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