Diocesan School, Westlake Boys claim secondary schools swimming titles

Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls produced the telling results in the final session to claim the New Zealand Secondary Schools Swimming Championship honours in a tight battle in Wellington today.

With a lead of just 14.5 points overnight from fellow Epsom rivals St Cuthberts, Diocesan were boosted with outstanding performances on the final day from Gina Galloway, Alice Waldow and Annabelle Paterson who claimed five medals between them to guide their school to the overall title.

Diocesan School claimed the girls’ championship with 1839 points and a final 69 point buffer over St Cuthberts with defending champions Napier Girls overtaking Waikato Diocesan for third.

Westlake Boys High School retained their national honours on 2043 points after a battle with Wellington College, who finished runners-up on 1974 points ahead of Palmerston North Boys.

Pukekohe High School earned special mention as the only college to finish in the top 10 in both boys’ and girls’ competitions, having made a continual rise at national level in the last few years.

The girls’ competition was set for a furious battle in the final three events today, but was put beyond doubt for Diocesan School on the back of superb performances from Galloway, Waldow and Paterson.

Galloway, 15, won the 100m backstroke and was second in the 100m butterfly; Waldow, 13, was third in the 100m backstroke and second in the 100m butterfly while Paterson, 18, just back from competing at the Junior Pan Pacific Games, was second in the 100m backstroke.

Galloway finished with six medals including four golds; Waldow with nine medals with one gold and Paterson three medals with one gold.

The leading individual was 13-year-old Brearna Crawford from Mt Albert Grammar who enjoyed a remarkable perfect eight gold medals from eight swims. She had the most gold medals ahead of Gina McCarthy, 14 from Waikato Diocesan with seven golds, However McCarthy, with nine medals in total, shared the honours of the most medals won along with Waldow.

The leading Para-Swimmer was Amy Nobel from Wellington Girls with six golds in the S9 category.

Westlake’s success in the boys’ competition was led by outstanding performances by 14-year-old Jonathan Selman and 16 year old Finn Kennard-Campbell. Selman was in top form today with wins in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle to finish with five gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

Kennard-Campbell, who was the top ranked individual last year, won the 100m backstroke and was second in the 100m freestyle to finish with four gold medals and three silver.

The leading individual was the outstanding 13-year-old prospect from Tawa College, Bronson Lloyd, who won the 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly along with second in the 100m freestyle in his three swims today. He finished with seven gold medals and two silver.

Others of note were Zac Dell, 15, from Pukekohe High School with four gold medals and one bronze and Sungu Kim, 14 from Rosmini College with four golds.

The leading Para-Swimmer was 17 year old Chris Arbuthnott (Palmerston North Boys) who won all of his S9 category swims.

Top 10 schools overall points:, girls: Diocesan School 1839, St Cuthberts College 1770.5, Napier Girls 1433, Waikato Diocesan 1355.5, Columba College 1062, Pukekohe High 1020, Mt Albert Grammar 813,Wellington Girls 791, Baradene College 732.5, Wellington East 656.

Boys: Westlake Boys 2043, Wellington College 1974, Palmerston North Boys 1425, St Andrews College 1370, Napier Boys 1146, Hamilton Boys 1091, Pukekohe High 813, Auckland Grammar 805, Stratford High 672.5, Taupo Nui-A-Tia 587.

CAPTION: Gina Galloway (Diocesan) in action at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Swimming Championships in Wellington. Credit: BW Media

NZ Sec Schools