Final rounds of the 2011 New Zealand Swimming Championship: Day five – Recap
Second session on day five of the 2011 New Zealand Swimming Championship have concluded in Auckland with the final rounds of the 800m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m backstroke and 200m breast-stroke in the Men’s and Women’s category.
The winners of each event will be allowed to represent their country at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships in July.
The session began with the finals of the Women’s 800m freestyle, where the arena’s favourite, Lauren Boyle, demonstrated a wonderful swim in a time of 8:33.30 minutes. Her timing was comfortably ahead of Howick Pakuranga’s Cara Baker and Capital Swim Club’s
Samantha Lucie Smith, who earned the silver and bronze medal in a time of 8:48.52 and 8:50.51 minutes, respectively.
Next was the Women’s 100m freestyle final, which witnessed Capital Swimming Club’s Tash Hind sustaining her fastest spot in the event. Hind earned the gold medal for the event in a wonderful time of 55.53 seconds and qualified for China. North Shore’s Hayley
Palmer and Motueka Swimming Club’s Amaka Gessler followed her on the podium for the silver medal and the bronze medal in a time of 55.80 and 56.19 seconds, respectively.
Moments later, Gareth Kean of Capital Swim Club conquered the gold medal in the Men’s 200m backstroke by clocking 2:00.94 minutes and earned his spot for Shanghai. He was followed by Howick Pakuranga’s Corey Main and North Shore Swimming’s Ben Gillies, who
climbed the podium for the second and third spot in a time of 2:04.26 and 2:04.59 minutes, respectively.
In the Women’s 200m breast-stroke, North Canterbury Swim Club’s Natasha Lloyd remained evident with her distant lead of almost three seconds for the gold medal. Lloyd clocked an astonishing 2:32.10 minutes to prove her eligibility for the crown. She was
followed by Neptune Swimming Club’s Katie Kenneally, who tried to keep Lloyd in a neck-to-neck race but failed in the third lap and clocked 2:35.87 minutes for the silver medal. North Shore’s Chloe Francis displayed a surprising swim by earning the third spot
on the podium with a timing of 2:36.70 minutes.
Last event of the session was the Men’s 200m breast-stroke final, where North Shore’s pupils occupied the top two spots on the podium. Glenn Snyders earned the gold medal in 2:12.89 minutes and was comfortably ahead of his team-member, Nicholas Ferrif, who
touched home in 2:17.76 minutes. Howick Pakuranga’s Carsten Corazza followed them on the podium for the bronze medal in a time of 2:19.77 minutes.
The championship will conclude with the completion of the New Zealand team to compete at the World Championship in July.
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