Division II Swimming Competition - Day 4

Wharenui Swimming Club, once one of the glamour clubs in the country, have taken out the top club honours at the New Zealand Division II Swimming Competition in Dunedin.

Three hundred swimmers from 86 clubs around the country are competing in the long course (50m) competition at Moana Pool for swimmers aged from 13 to 18 years.

Wharenui, home to the great Jaynie Hudgell and her head coach and father Pic Parkhouse, dominated the Division II meet, claiming the combined points award, finishing more than double the points clear of second placed club, Dunedin’s Neptune Swimming Club.

They finished on 1,306 points with Neptune 664, Central City Swimming (Auckland) 621 and Howick Pakuranga 603.

Fourteen-year-old Elen Barr, from the Dolphin Swim club in Feilding, was the leading individual swimmer with nine medals. She enjoyed three victories in a superb final night, winning the 100m butterfly, 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley, to finish with seven gold, one silver and one bronze.

Neptune’s Teigan Tarapi, 15, won eight medals in the girls’ competition including four gold with a win in the 400m individual medley today. She shared that total with Palmerston North’s Kate Blincoe, 14, who had two silver medals today in the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle to finish with two gold, five silver and one bronze.

The other standout was Bay of Islands 17-year-old Neve Clapton who claimed five gold medals from five swims, taking out the 50m freestyle tonight.

Neptune’s Ben Carr, 15, was the leading male with six medals including four gold and two silver with a win in the 100m butterfly tonight.

He was joined on six medals with Noel Bisson from Wanaka who claimed a silver in the 50m freestyle to add to his tally of one gold, four silver and one bronze.

Joining Carr with four golds was Wharenui’s Ben Sutton, with a win in the 100m butterfly tonight, and Riley Taylor from Timaru.

Leading club points:

Wharenui (Canterbury) 1306, Neptune (Otago) 664, TBSS Central City (Auckland) 621, Howick Pakuranga (Counties Manukau) 603, Tawa (Wellington) 562, Te Awamutu 448, Aquabladz (Taranaki) 388.5, Aquagym (Canterbury) 379, Napier Aquahawks 378, Capital 351, Pukekohe 334.

NZ Division II