Boyle wins title in Santa Clara swim meet

Auckland swimmer Lauren Boyle has won the 1500m freestyle title at the prestigious Santa Clara Invitational meet in the USA yesterday.

Boyle, part of Swimming New Zealand’s High Performance Centre, is in the USA training and racing as she prepares for the London Olympics.

She clocked an excellent 16:21.73 which is only a second outside her New Zealand record, and in the process beat two-time American 1500m champion Emily Brunemann and Venezuela’s Pan American Games medallist Andreina Pinto.

The Americans are using the meet as they build towards the national championships this month, which is their Olympic Trials.

Boyle, coached by Mark Regan, started conservatively before consistent 1m05s pace for each 100m and then showing her strength and fitness with a 1:02.70 time for the final 100m for the win.

The New Zealander has followed this up to qualify second fastest in heats of the 400m freestyle while kiwi teammate Glenn Snyders qualified for the final of the 200m breaststroke.

The meet continues until Monday.