New Zealand swimmers among the medals in Australian Age Championships

New Zealand swimmers saved the best until last in their 15-medal haul at the Australian Age Group Championships that finished in Brisbane last night.

North Shore’s Tabitha Baumann and Auckland’s Max Polianski (United) both went under national age group record times, with both swims in the final session of the six-day championships.

Kiwi swimmers grabbed four titles at the championships, led by outstanding Hamilton prospect Bradley Ashby. The 16 year old from the Fairfield club won both 400m individual medley in 4:28.70 on day three and the 200m individual medley in 2:05.71 on day five.

The other wins went to United’s Eric Kahr who took out the 16 years 100m breaststroke in 1:04.25 and Polianski in the 15 years 100m backstroke in 58.67.

Polianski establish a new national age group record in finishing third in the 15 years 200m individual medley where he clocked 2:08.47 in the final. This was more than a second inside the previous mark of 2:09.97 set by North Shore’s Mitchell Donaldson in 2008.

Baumann was timed at 8:43.25 in finishing runner-up in the 16 years 800m freestyle, which was nearly five seconds inside the old record set by open water star Cara Baker in 2007. As Baumann has yet to complete her residential qualification, her time won’t be recognised as  an official record. She also earned a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle.

Both Polianski and Baumann have great heritage in the sport. Polianski’s father, Igor, who is his coach, is an Olympic gold medallist for the USSR and member of FINA’s Hall of Fame while Baumann’s father Alex is a double Olympic gold medallist for Canada and now the CEO of High Performance Sport New Zealand.

The most successful medallist was Auckland’s Michael Mincham. The Waterhole club swimmer earned three medals finishing second in the 15 years 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle.

Both Mincham and Ashby are on scholarship at the Southport School academy on the Gold Coast.

North Shore 16 year old Matthew Myers was another multi-medallist finishing runner-up in the 400m individual medley and third on the final night in the 1500m freestyle.

The other medals went to Corey Main (Howick Pakuranga), third in the 100m backstroke; clubmate Paige Schendelaar-Kemp with a bronze in the 100m butterfly and Tarakani’s Julian Weir (AquaBladz) who was third in the 100m backstroke.

The medallists were:

Michael Mincham (Waterhole) 15 years 1500m freestyle, 15:46.93, 2; 400m freestyle, 4:00.32, 2; 200m freestyle, 1:55.18, 2. Tabitha Baumann (North Shore) 16 years 400m freestyle, 4:15.21, 3; 800m freestyle, 8:43.25, 2 (NZ Age record). Corey Main (Howick Pakuranga) 17-18 years 100m backstroke, 56.48, 3. Paige Schendelaar-Kemp (Howick Pakuranga)  13 years 100m butterfly,1:03.34, 3. Eric Kahr (United) 16 years, 100m breaststroke, 1:04.25, 1. Julian Weir (AquaBladz) 16 years 100m backstroke, 58.83, 3. Bradley Ashby (Fairfield) 16 years 400m individual medley, 4:28.70, 1; 200m individual medley, 2:05.71, 1.

Matthew Myers (NorthShore) 16 years 400m individual medley, 4:29.73, 2; 1500m freestyle, 16:01.04, 3.

Max Polianski (United) 15 years 100m backstroke, 58.67, 1; 200m individual medley, 2:08.47, 3 (NZ Age record).