Stanley, Boyle Impress with Swimming Success in Queensland

Kiwi swim stars Lauren Boyle and Matthew Stanley scored wins on the second night of finals at the Queensland championships in Brisbane last night.

The pair won their respective finals in the 400m freestyle, both on or under qualifying standards for next year’s Commonwealth Games, which is excellent reward given their extremely heavy training load at their camp on the Gold Coast this month.

Boyle took out the women’s race in 4:07.52 which is on the qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games as the world championship medallist works towards Glasgow.

The 24 year old took over the lead from Australian teenage prospect Emma McKeon at the 250m mark, and with her typical consistent lapping of 31 seconds, Boyle pushed on to win by nearly two seconds.

It was a similar story for Stanley who took until 300m to run down Australian Commonwealth Games gold medallist Thomas Fraser-Holmes and Matthew Terry in the men’s 400m.

Stanley showed excellent signs to power home in 1:24.49 for the final 150m to win in 3:48.49, which is under the qualifying mark for the Commonwealth Games, and only 0.8s outside his own national record.

Dunedin father Kurt Crosland continued his quest for Commonwealth Games qualification, finishing fourth in the 100m backstroke in 55.39, which is 0.75s off the standard he will need to reach in this event in April’s trials in Auckland.

In other final performances, Tash Hind was ninth in the 400m freestyle in 4:16.16, while Beckie Dooley (1:12.85) and Julian Layton (1:04.43) were seventh in their respective finals of the 100m breaststroke.

The Championships conclude for the New Zealand team tomorrow before they return home.