Swimming NZ Zonal Championships - Junior 15 and Under

The Southern Makos from the South Island have claimed the junior honours in the inaugural Swimming New Zealand Zonal Championships in Wellington this morning.

The new event, which mirrors the collegiate events in USA, featured the 20 best swimmers 15 years and under from each of four zones. The zones are South Makos (South Island), All Stars (Wellington, Manawau region), Aqua Knights (Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay) and Harlequins (Auckland, Northland).

They competed in a full national championship programme condensed into two hours of quick-fire team competition, concluding with a flying squadron relay featuring all 20 swimmers each competing over 50m freestyle.

The Makos took a slender 18 point lead into the final flying squadron relay, and after an early lead, lost the advantaged to the Aqua Knights before edging back in front on the final two swimmers to claim the overall honours.

Makos won on 1073 points from Aqua Knights on 1045, All Stars 904 and Harlequins 682.

Makos head coach Dave Prattley, from the AquaGym club in Christchurch, said the innovation of the Zonal Championship will add to the development of swimming.

“It’s been outstanding. Our team came together as one really quickly and that team oriented approach is an important development for a sport that is largely individual,” Prattley said.

“The big skill set is that our swimmers got up and had to be very competitive. Several of them got big personal bests today after five days of the national championships. So they were really competitive and fought hard which is what Swimming New Zealand will want to see from their top swimmers.”

The winners were led by Dunedin swimmer Han Zhang (Neptune) who won all three of his races, the 100m and 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley.

Other multiple winners for the winning Makos squad included Sara Gane (Blenhiem) who won the 100m and 200m breaststroke and Campbell Pearson (Alexandra) winning the 100m and 200m backstroke).

The Aqua Knights were led by the outstanding Joshua Taylor-Martin (Enterprise, Gisborne) who won the 100m and 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley, while Bobbi Gichard (Greendale, hawkes Bay) took out 100m and 200m backstroke.

The other multiple winners were the All Stars pair of Maggie Burns (Capital) in the 50m and 200m freestyle and Josie Kozyniak (Capital) in the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley.

Results Junior Zonal Championships:
Women 200m Medley relay: Southern Makos 1:57.48, 1; Northern AquaKnights 1:58.73, 2; Wellington All Stars 2:01.09, 3.
Men 200m Medley Relay: Southern Makos 1:49.59, 1; AquaKnights 1:49.72, 2; Harlequins 1:57.10, 3.
Women 400m individual medley: Josie Kozyniak (AllStars) 5:01.29, 1; Lauren Duggan (Allstars) 5:02.02, 2; Abi Chapman (Harlequins) 5:04.04, 3.
Men 400m individual medley: Han Zhang (Makos) 4:40.63, 1; Devlin Forsythe (Harlequins) 4:43.66, 2; Michael Woods (AquaKnights) 4:43.97, 3.
Women 200m freestyle: Maggie Burns (AllStars) 2:06.53, 1; Annabelle Paterson (Harlequins) 2:07.78, 2; Rebecca Moynihan (AllStars) 2:08.42, 3.
Men 200m freestyle: Joshua Taylor-Martin (AquaKnights) 1:57.13, 1; Yinhu Cui (Harlequins) 1:58.73, 2; Campbell Kershaw (Makos) 2:00.68, 3.
Women 100m backstroke: Bobbi Gichard (AquaKnights) 1:02.48, 1; Cassandra Wright (Makos) 1:04.06, 2; Brittany Taylor (AquaKnights) 1:05.11, 3.
Men 100m backstroke: Campbell Pearson (Makos) 59.65, 1; Matthew Anderson (AquaKnights) 1:01.31, 2; Cole McDowell (AquaKnights) 1:02.65, 3.
Women 100m breaststroke: Sara Gane (Makos) 1:14.03, 1; Ellie Rukuwai (Makos) 1:14.07, 2; Maddie Mason (AquaKnights) 1:14.97, 3.
Men 100m breaststroke: Han Zhang (Makos) 1:06.29, 1; Bruin Maunder (AquaKnights) 1:07.93, 2; Tame Govaerts (Makos) 1:09.28, 3.
Women 800m freestyle: Caitlin Deans (Makos) 9:06.88, 1; Abi Chapman (Harlequins) 9:07.11, 2; Josie Kozyniak (AllStars) 9:07.25, 3.
Men 1500m freestyle: Thomas Heaton (Makos) 16:13.81, 1; Devlin Forsythe (AllStars) 16:24.90, 2; Bertie Bassett-Foss (AquaKnights) 16:25.59, 3.
Women 200m freestyle relay: AllStars 1:49.19, 1; AquaKnights 1:49.68, 2; Makos 1:51.06, 3.
Men 200m freestyle relay: Makos 1:38.94, 1; AqauKnights 1:39.32, 2; AllStars 1:43.58, 3.
Women 200m butterfly: Katie Trott (AllStars) 2:23.43, 1; Kaitlyn Tippett (AquaKnights) 2:23.81, 2; Sophie Gibson (Makos) 2:26.81, 3.
Men 200m butterfly:  Stuart Graham (AqauKnights) 2:14.40, 1; Satori Dobbie (Makos) 2:15.76, 2; Campbell Tacon (AllStars) 2:20.83, 3.
Women 50m freestyle: Maggie Burns (AllStars) 26.72, 1; Felicity Lowen (Makos) 27.49, 2; Jenna Barrett (AquaKnights) 27.70, 3.
Men 50m freestyle: Sam McKenzie (Makos) 24.95, 1; Alexander Buk (Makos) 25.02, 2; Bertie Bassett-Foss (AquaKnights) 25.94, 3.
Women 100m freestyle: Genevieve Bowler (Harlequins) 58.92, 1; Rebecca Moynihan (AllStars) 59.04, 2; Libby Bradley (AquaKnights) 59.97, 3.
Men 100m freestyle: Joshua Taylor-Martin (AquaKnights) 52.98, 1; Jordan Rahurahu (Makos) 53.73, 2; Joshua McCormack (AquaKnights) 54.44, 3.
Women 200m backstroke: Bobbi Gichard (AquaKnights) 2:16.96, 1; Mackenzie Lambert (Harlequins) 2:19.98, 2; Brittany Taylor (AquaKnights) 2:20.16, 3.
Men 200m backstroke: Campbell Pearson (Makos) 2:12.10, 1; Cole McDowell (AquaKnights) 2:12.64, 2; Sean Aitchison (AllStars) 2:16.31, 3.
Women 200m breaststroke: Sara Gane (Makos) 2:40.12, 1; Maddie Mason (AquaKnights) 2:43.04, 2; Lauren Duggan (AllStars) 2:43.69, 3.
Men 200m breaststroke: Han Zhang (Makos) 2.22.72, 1; Tame Govaerts (Makos) 2:31.81, 2; Liam Simpson (AllStars) 2:32.95, 3.
Women 400m freestyle: Josie Kozyniak (AllStars) 4:25.92, 1; Annabelle Paterson (Harlequins) 4:26.60, 2; Caitlin Deans (Makos) 4:27.18, 3.
Men 400m freestyle: Bertie Bassett-Foss (AquaKnights) 4:10.39, 1; Jordan Rahurahu (Makos) 4:10.48, 2; Thomas Heaton (Makos) 4:10.80, 3.
Women 100m butterfly: Emily Rennell (Makos) 1:03.82, 1; Maggie Burns (AllStars) 1:05.26, 2; Kaitlyn Tippett (AquaKnights) 1:06.02, 3.
Men 100m butterfly: Joshua McCormack (AquaKnights) 59.82, 1; Stuart Graham (AquaKnights) 1:00.27, 2; Tyler Jerrom (Harlequins) 1:00.53, 3.
Women 200m individual medley: Scarlett Tacon (AllStars) 2:22.20, 1; Abi Chapman (Harlequins) 2:22.29, 2; Cassandra Wright (Makos) 2:22.36, 3.
Men 200m individual medley: Joshua Taylor-Martin (AquaKnights) 2:12.10, 1; Michael Woods (AquaKnights) 2:15.55, 2; Campbell Pearson (Makos) 2:17.82, 3.
Mixed 20x50m freestyle flying squadron relay: Makos 8:52.81, 1; AquaKnights 8:53.08, 2; All Stars 9:18.45, 3; Harlequins 9:18.45, 4.
Final points: Makos 1083, AquaKnights 1045, All Stars 904, Harlequins 682.