Youngest New Zealand swimmer leads way at Junior Pan Pacs

The New Zealand team’s youngest swimmer, Mya Rasmussen from Palmerston North impressed on day two of the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii.

The Pan Pacs in Maui has drawn full strength teams from USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, China, New Zealand, the Pacific and other non-European nations, for swimmers between 13 to 18 years.

The 16-year-old Rasmussen finished eighth in the A Final of the 400m individual medley. She clocked 4:54.85 in the final which was a fraction slower than her time in the morning heats.

She then joined Yeonsu Lee, Annabelle Paterson and Hayley McIntosh in the New Zealand team that finished seventh in the 4x200m freestyle relay to complete an exhausting second day for the young Manawatu swimmer. The quartet clocked 8:29.61 in the final.

Earlier Wellington’s Lewis Clareburt was 11^th in the B Final of the 400m individual medley, after making the A Final in the 200m butterfly on the opening day.

The 17-year-old from the Capital club was timed at a personal best 4:29.30 in the morning heat but lowered that again by nearly four seconds for 11^th in the evening’s B Final, which is approaching the national age record of Rio Olympian Bradlee Ashby.

The competition runs until Sunday (NZ time).

CAPTION: Mya Rasmussen in action. (Credit: BW Media)