Mayfair Pools New Zealand Age Group Championships – Day 5 Wrap

World junior champion Gabrielle Fa’amausili edged her fellow 14-year-old rival Bobbi Gichard as the pair lit up the pool on the final night of the Mayfair Pools New Zealand Age Group Swimming Championships in Wellington.

Fa’amausili (Roskill) took out the 14 years final in 1:02.02 with Gichard (Greendale, Hawkes Bay) 38/100^th of a second behind in second with the pair setting the two fastest times of all age groups.

Their swims earned over 800 FINA points to be the top two world ranked swims of the meet.

The championships at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre doubled as the official trials for swimmers to be considered for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii and the second Youth Olympics in China, both in August.

Fa’amausili and Gichard were well under that mark in the 100m backstroke with Auckland’s Rebekah Bradley (United) joining them tonight.

She took out the 16 years final in the same event in 1:03.38, which was just 3/100ths of a second inside the qualifying mark for the Junior Pan Pacs.

This brought the total to 12 swimmers that bettered the standards this week for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships which comprises full strength teams from the Pacific Rim including USA, Canada Japan and Australia as well as New Zealand.

Tonight’s three swimmers under the qualifying times for the Junior Pan Pacs are joined by Bradlee Ashby, Carter Edgecombe, Jacob Garrod, Dominic Mildon, Michael Mincham, George Schroder, Andrew Trembath, Ben Walsh and Julian Weir.

Swimming New Zealand selectors have nominated swimmers for the New Zealand Olympic Committee to consider for the four places in the team for the Youth Olympic Games in China. These are based on the four highest ranked performances on FINA points. They are Fa’amausili, Jacob Garrod, Gichard and Michael Mincham.

Ashby completed an outstanding meet by winning the 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley on the final night. This went with his two qualifying performances under the times for the Junior Pan Pacs.

The Fairfield club swimmer clocked 2:02.95 to win the 17-18 years 200m butterfly and was just 02.s outside a third qualifying effort. North Shore’s Wilrich Coetzee impressed with a 2:03.25 effort to win the 16 years age group.

Ashby clocked 2:04.90 to win the 200m individual medley which was outside his own national age group record but gave him four gold and two silver medals this week.

Caitlin Russell (Jasi) won the 200m individual medley after a silver and two bronze medals earlier in the meet.

Sam Perry (St Peters) showed his range by winning the 50m freestyle in 23.25 after wins in longer distances this week.

Eighteen-year-old Monique King (North Shore) won the 17-18 years 800m freestyle in 8:59.82 which was just 0.7 seconds outside the qualifying mark for the Junior Pan Pacs.

The swimmers nominated for the Youth Olympics in Nanjing of 16-28 August are: Gabrielle Fa’amausili (Roskill), Jacob Garrod (North Shore), Bobbi Gichard (Greendale) and Michael Mincham (Waterhole).

The team, including open water swimmers who qualified earlier, for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii on 28 August to 1 September is: Pool: Bradlee Ashby (Fairfield, Hamilton), Rebekah Bradley (United, Auckland), Carter Edgecombe (Fairfield), Dominic Mildon (Howick Pakuranga), George Schroder (AquaGym, Christchurch), Andrew Trembath (Neptune, Dunedin), Ben Walsh (Porirua City Aquatics) and Julian Weir (AquaBladz New Plymouth).Open water: Liam Albery (Capital), Grace Sommerville (Ashburton).

NZ Age Groups