Ashburton Swim Team members who attended the Canterbury Short Course Championships were (back, from left) Mitchell Veix, Bailey Tait, Blake Farr, Bree Middleton, (front) Hannah-Mae Joyce, Lucy Reeve and Hannah King. Photo supplied.A strong team of young Mid Canterbury swimmers produced some top results at last weekend’s Canterbury Short Course Championships in Christchurch.

Open to all swimmers aged 12 years and over, the Ashburton Swim Team sent seven swimmers to the event and between them they came home with a fair haul of medals.

Blake Farr won the 800m freestyle and took top 10 placings in the 50m butterfly, the 100m freestyle and the 100m individual medley, while Hannah-Mae Joyce also picked up a top 10 finish in her 800m frestyle event.

Hannah King won her 800m freestyle final and was third in the 200m breaststroke, as well as finishing in the top 10 in her 200m individual medley, 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 400m freestyle and 100m individual medley events.

Bree Middleton added to her growing medal collection with a win in both her 800m and 200m freestyle finals, and took silvers in both the 50m freestyle and 200m individual medley.

She also finished in the top 10 in the 100m backstroke.

Bailey Tait was second in his 100m freestyle final, while Lucy Reeve took a third placing in her 300m butterfly as well as top 10 placings in the 800m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

Also making a large contribution to the medal haul was Mitchell Veix, who won both his 400m individual medley and 400m freestyle events, as well as finishing second in the 50m, 200m and 100m butterfly, and third in the 200m freestyle.

Veix also finished in the top 10 in his 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle races.

It was a great weekend for the young team and they were back in the pool this week training hard ahead of the season’s next big challenge.

On August 3 and 4 they will head to Timaru for the Timaru Winter Meet, which would be the first ever competition for some of the Ashburton club’s newest members.

After that a number of swimmers are eyeing up the South Island Championships, which will be held in Dunedin from August 16-18 – an event which swimmers had to qualify for.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 26 July 2019