Double swim titles for Talitha Mcewan
Teenagers dominate Ocean Swim Series’ Legends of the Lake
AMount Maunganui College student has won two secondary schools national titles at the Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series held in Rotorua over the weekend.
Talitha Mcewan won the 14 to 15 years girls’ national schools’ titles for the 3.5km and 1000m distances and also finished second in the open event.
Teenagers excelled in the Ocean Swim Series, with the first 17 home in the Rotorua’s Generation Homes Legend of the Lake aged under 20 years.
Waikanae’s Bronson Lloyd won the 3.5km swim at Lake Tikitapu, finishing in 39 minutes 38 seconds, and Marlborough’s Alec Swan came in 42s behind him.
They were first and second for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Open Water 3.5km championship, with Nelson’s Oxford Bayley placing third, only 25s further back.
Nelson’s Abbey Smale continues to dominate the women’s field, winning in a time of 41m 49s, and the Garin College student won the New Zealand Schools 3.5km title too.
Avondale College’s Alex Dunkley won the 14 to 15 years old boys’ 3.5km and 1000m events in the schools’ championships.
Pakuranga College’s Ella Crowe won the 500m 16- to 19-year-old age group in the 500m event and came third in the 3.5km distance.
Banana Boat Series event director Scott Rice said it was wonderful seeing so many young swimmers succeeding and he was delighted to see the strong numbers competing in the schools’ national championships.
Rice was also happy to see the Legends of the Lake successfully completed after it was the first event in the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series cancelled last year because of Covid-19.
“We had 1599 registrations across all events, which was superb.
“It was really nice to be back in Rotorua and we are in Mt Maunganui on April 3 and then back in Auckland two weeks later for the two-day Harcourts Cooper & Co Swim the Bridge.”
Rice said entry numbers were looking good for those events too.
“So we are set to finish the series on a high.”
The New Zealand Secondary Schools Open Water 3.5km, 1000m and 500m championships featured winning performances from students at a wide range of schools.
This included Mount Maunganui College, Tauranga Boys’ and Tauranga Girls’ Colleges, Pakuranga, Avondale Wellington, Nelson, Nayland and Garin College.