2018 NEW ZEALAND SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, October 2nd – Saturday, October 6th
- Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre
- SCM
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheets
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
- Day 3 Recap
- Day 4 Recap
- Live Stream
- Results
The women’s backstrokers ruled the day to close the 2018 New Zealand Short Course Swimming Championships.
The event was led by a new personal best from Paige Flynn and two new Age Group Record swims from Kyla Alexander. Flynn swam 27.49 to win the event, which is her new best time.
Neither swimmer hit a FINA A standard for the meet, meaning that Flynn will have the right to the spot based on her B standard swim.
In the morning age group timed final, Alexander won the 17-18 race in 27.65. That broke the record of 27.73 set by Gabriele Fa’amausili at last year’s championship meet. Alexander actually beat Fa’amausili (who’s not swimming at this meet now that she’s attending college at the University of Georgia in the United States) when Fa’amausili broke that record: she was 27.71 last year to break the 16-year olds record.
In finals, Alexander undercut her mark again with a 27.60 for 2nd-place.
The other big record of the night was Caitlin Dean, who trains at Neptune under Lars Humer and alongside another age group freestyle phenom Erika Fairweather, who is competing at the Youth Olympic Games beginning this weekend. Dean swam a 16:25.17 in the 1500 free final, which was not only a new personal best by 33 seconds, but it broke the 18-year olds National Record of 16:31.23 by 6 seconds. The old mark was set by Samantha Lucie-Smith in 2010.
Other Day 5 Winners:
- Daniel Hunter added the 100 free title to his resume with a 48.64 – beating out Sam Perry (49.26). Hunter already won the 50 free earlier in the meet.
- Paige Flynn got the first of her two titles of the day in the 100 free in 54.13, joined with the aforementioned win in the 50 back later in the day.
- Wilrich Coetzee won the men’s 200 fly in 1:55.84, topping the field by nearly 4 seconds. Australian Andrew Hemsworth took 2nd in 1:49.48, and Jeremy Tasker was 3rd in 1:59.83. That’s a ‘B’ cut for Coetzee, but was a second short of the ‘A’ cut.
- Vanessa Ouwehand from St. Peter’s Swimming Club won the women’s 200 fly in 2:13.01.
- Andrew Jeffcoat won the men’s 50 back in 24.19, beating Bradlee Ashby, who has been a star of the meet so far. Ashby had 7 individual titles at the meet coming into Saturday’s racing, including wins in the 100 and 200 backstroke, but the 19-year old Jeffcoat blocked his quest for an 8th.
- Quinton Hurley won the men’s 1500 free in 15:20.19.
- United Swimming Club finished off their women’s team title by winning the 400 medley relay in 4:07.30, with a team made up entirely of 18 & unders.
- North Shore Swimming Club won the men’s medley, with Ashby on the breaststroke leg and Coetzee on the fly leg, in 3:36.12. That was a 9-and-a-half second margin over the next closest team.
Final Team Standings
Top 5 per category
Women’s Open Top 5
- United Swimming Club – 330
- North Shore Swimming Club – 270
- St. Peter’s Swimming Club – 261
- Northwave Swim Club – 194
- Evolution Aquatics Tauranga – 98
Men’s Open Top 5
- North Shore Swimming Club – 650
- Howick Pakuranga – 268
- Capital Swim Club – 157
- St. Peter’s Swimming Club – 120
- Matamata Swim Club – 108
Combined Top 5
- North Shore Swimming Club – 320
- St. Peter’s Swimming Club – 381
- United Swimming Club – 364
- Howick Pakuranga – 286
- Capital Swim Club – 253
Age Group Overall Team Scores
- Capital Swim Club – 1,498
- Howick Pakuranga – 1,369
- United Swimming Club – 1,280
- North Shore Swimming Club – 1,026
- St. Peter’s Swimming Club – 920
