Olympians Drive All Stars' Chances in New Zone Swim Championships

Olympians Gareth Kean, Samantha Lucie-Smith and Natasha Hind lead a powerful All Stars swim team for next month’s inaugural national Zonal Championship in Wellington.
The new one-day competition will comprise four zone teams with each comprising 20 swimmers 15 years and under and 20 swimmers 16 years and over. The competition will pit the best of each age group from throughout the country into four zone teams. The All Stars are made up from the Wellington, Manawatu-Wanganui regions.

Head coach Gary Hurring believes the new initiative will have widespread benefit to the sport.

“The most gain will be the profile that the sport can create by this new dynamic and exciting competition format that will be very spectator and sponsor friendly,” Hurring said.

“Bringing the region together will hopefully create a strong parochial team spirit. This in itself will develop strong competition within the different zones, but it will also bring a pride to the team members for being selected to compete for their respective regions.

“For our younger swimmers in particular this is extremely important, and if we can develop pride in our young athletes it will inversely lift swimming in the future.”

The team is based around Hurring’s powerful Capital club and swimmers from the Wellington Regional High Performance Centre.

Kean, a finalist at the recent world championships, leads the way along with his fellow clubmates and Olympians Hind and Lucie-Smith, who impressed with personal best performances at the recent world championships.

Also in the team is open water specialist Emma Robinson, who made her world championship debut in Spain, along with butterfly and freestyle specialist Samantha Lee.

While the senior combination is composed around a nucleus from the Capital club, the junior group are well represented from nine clubs in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Kapiti Coast, Horowhenua, Wairarapa, Manawatu and Wanganui.

The All Stars team is:

Senior: Nick Gillum (Capital), Cameron Blair (Kiwi West), Sam Turner (Capital), Kyle Barnes (Capital), Ted Taylor (Karori Pirates), Issac Foote (Capital), Ben Walsh (Porirua City Aquatics), Gareth Kean (Capital), Joe Hammond (Carterton), Liam Albery (Capital), Nikki Chapman (Capital), Emma Robinson (Capital), Jenna Buchanan (Kiwi West), Samantha Lucie-Smith (Capital), Natasha Hind (Capital), Samantha Lee (Capital), Bronagh Ryan (Porirua), Emily McGill (Capital), Allison Chapman (Capital), Bryony Thorne (Swimzone).

Junior: Liam Simpson (Kiwi West), Devlin Forythe (Karori), John McKeefry (Masterton), Campbell Tacon (Capital), Max Press (Swimzone), Jacob Farr (Karori), Jacob Smith (Wanganui), Sean Aitchison (Swimzone), George Dorrington (Karori), Patrick Langley (Swimzone), Emily Malaulau (Raumati), Josie Kozyniak (Capital), Maggie Burns (Capital), Laura O'Keefe (Wanganui), Rebecca Moynihan (Levin), Katie Trott (Tawa), Scarlett Tacon (Capital), Lauren Duggan (Capital), Paige Enoka (Raumati), Sarah O'Connor (Karori).

Coaches: Gary Hurring (Capital, Regional High Performance Centre), Nevill Sutton (Porirua City Aquatics), Steve Francis (Karori Pirates), Craig Albery (Capital).

NZ Zonal Championships