Ashby secures second medal for New Zealand at Maui

It was two in a row for teenage Kiwi swimmer Bradlee Ashby at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii today.

The 18 year old from Hamilton won the bronze medal in the 100m butterfly on the third night of finals, following his bronze medal yesterday in the 400m individual medley.

The Pan Pacific Championships attracted 300 swimmers 18 years and younger from USA, Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, China, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Ashby, from the Fairfield club, was third fastest in qualifying heats in the morning at Kihei on Maui, improving his time to 53.81s to finish third behind Americans Alex Valente and Andrew Seliskar.

Fellow 18 year old Andrew Trembath, from the Neptune club in Dunedin, earned another A final, finishing seventh in the 200m backstroke. He was seventh fastest in his heat in 2:05.60 and while he was seventh in the A final, he did not improve his time.

The men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team finished sixth in their A final, with Ashby adding a brilliant anchor leg in 50.49s.

In other swims Grace Sommerville (Ashburton) was 12^th in the B final of the 400m freestyle in 4:20.26 while in the men’s 400m freestyle Carter Edgecombe (Fairfield) was 11^th in the B final of the men’s 400m freestyle in 1:00.74 ahead of teammates Dominic Mildon (Howick Pakuranga) who was 14^th in 4:01.69 and Liam Albery (Capital) who was 16^th in 4:02.72.

In tomorrow’s final day in the pool, Ashby contests the 200m individual medley along with Trembath; Rebekah Bradley, Mildon and Julian Weir in the respective heats of the 50m freestyle; George Schroder and Ben Walsh in the 200m breaststroke.

Results and Live Stream: www.usaswimming.org