Ashburton swimmers Hannah King (AshColl) and Bree Middleton ( Mt. Hutt) with the medals they won at the national age group champs.Ashburton swimming coach Shane Jones couldn’t have asked for much more from his young charges at the 2019 National Age Group Swimming Championships

The four young swimmers – Bree Middleton, Blake Farr, Hannah King and Mitchell Veix – came home with six medals all up, nearly 100 per cent personal best times, and the valuable experience of top-level racing under their belts.

Jones said the event in Wellington was a good stepping stone and a great confidence booster for the older of the four, 15-year-olds Farr and Middleton, in particular as they looked to push forward to higher honours.

For the younger two, 13-year-olds Veix and King, it was their first time at a national competition and they produced great results, including a silver medal for King.

The national age groups were held at the Wellington Aquatic Centre over five days and Middleton was the last of the Ashburton contingent to hit the water on Saturday in the 400m freestyle final, where she swam a six second personal best (PB) to finish second to the winner, who broke the longest standing New Zealand record set by Rebecca Perrott in 1976.

The 42-year record breaking swim proved just too slick, but for Middleton it was still a strong end to a top meet, with five medals all up.

She made finals in all of her events and set new long course personal best times across the board. She won silver in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle, and gold in 1500m age group and open freestyle, unofficially breaking the Canterbury record in the event which had had been set in 2011.

She also finished fifth in the 50m freestyle.

Farr was flying the flag for the Ashburton Swim Team on the final day too, lining up for the 100m freestyle final and swimming a 0.5 second personal best to finish fifth.

He picked up top 10 placings in all events, finishing eighth in the 400m freestyle, ninth in the 50m freestyle, seventh in the 200m freestyle, and ninth in the 1500m freestyle, and sixth in the 100m freestyle.

King swam a three second long course personal best in the 400m individual medley heats, and when she returned to the pool for the finals later that same day she swam another new personal best, by nine seconds, and improved her ranking by one to finish with the silver medal.

King also finished 10th with a personal best swim in the 200m breaststroke, and in the 800m freestyle she was eighth with a three second personal best.

Veix swam a personal best in the 50m butterfly on his way to a 12th place finish, and in the 200m butterfly he finished 11th.

In the 100m butterfly he produced a three second long course PB only to just miss out on the final, being the first reserve.

Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 22 April 2019