State New Zealand Swimming Championships – Day 4 Heats

Lauren Boyle set herself up for another Olympic qualifying time on the fourth day of heats at the State New Zealand Swimming Championships.

Boyle, already qualified in the 200m and 400m freestyle as well as the 4x200m freestyle relay, was fastest in heats of the 800m today.

She swam effortlessly to clock 8:42.75 to set herself for the final which will be held tomorrow.

The men’s 100m freestylers have their chance in the final where North Shore’s Carl O’Donnell dominated the heats in 50.28 ahead of Matthew Stanley and Steven Kent (51.10) who were part of the stunning 200m freestyle relay effort last night.

Open water specialist Charlotte Webby was fastest in heats of the women’s 200m butterfly in 2:17.56 .

North Shore’s Glenn Snyders, who has gone under the Olympic qualifying time already at the meet, was effortless in finishing second fastest in the heats of the 200m breaststroke behind North Shore’s Ashton Baumann, who were both well clear of the rest of the qualifiers.

Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden HPC) topped heats in the 50m backstroke from Olympic qualifier Gareth Kean in the non-Olympic event in 25.83.

High Performance Centre swimmer Kane Radford, preparing for June’s open water final qualifying, topped qualifiers in the 1500m freestyle in an impressive 15:45.45, ahead of training mate Nathan Capp (15:50.58) and North Shore’s Mathew Myers (15:53.58).

Tonight’s finals begin at 6.30pm and the championships continue until Friday when the team for the London Olympics will be named.