Lovell named best swimmer
Eleven-year-old Nick Lovell has won the Life Members Cup for best country club swimmer for the third year running after helping the Waimea club capture the Crest Cup for best country club at the Swimming Nelson Marlborough Country and Town championships.
The meet, held on Saturday at Hampden Street Pool, began the summer pool swimming season for the region and attracted 42 swimmers from Canterbury-West Coast and one from Wellington, joining 91 Nelson-Marlborough competitors.
Cody Pike, 15, was another standout for Waimea, winning six events and placing second in another to finish top of the boys’ 15 years and over age group. Pike won two age group gold medals for his efforts, for most points by a country club swimmer and by a Nelson-Marlborough swimmer in his age group.
Lilly Hall, 10, Nick Hall, 12, Ruby-Lou Stuart, 14, and Clara Foster, 17, all won numerous events and Nelson-Marlborough age group gold medals to lead Nelson South Swimming Club to victory in the overall team points battle.
Tasman Swimming Club finished second in overall points, led by William Seymour, 10, Isabella Thurlow, 12, Joshua Amyes, 13, each of whom won multiple events and Nelson-Marlborough age group gold medals.
Other Waimea swimmers to win a country club gold medal were Keita McKay, 9, Riley Nixon, 10, Edyn Hodgson, 14, and Hollis Krystal, 15.
Maya Lewis, 14, won a country club gold for Golden Bay as did Kate Kroupa, 12, for Motueka.
George Glover, 14, of Blenheim had an excellent day, winning two events, placing second in four more and third in another to finish second overall in his age group.
Finn Lewis, 15, of Golden Bay, also swam well, gathering two firsts, three seconds and three third placings and picking up the silver medal in his age group.
Reuben Lile, 12, of Nelson South, won six events while teammate Emily Bryant, 12, won five and was second in another as the two swimmers collected the boys’ and girls’ silver overall medals in their respective age groups. Other Nelson South swimmers to win multiple individual events were Kaleb Johnston (four), Adam Barton, Caitlin Eden and Georgina Trengrove (three each), and Zara Aydon, Skye Humphries and Hannah Martin (two each).
Other Tasman swimmers to win multiple events were Madeleine Shallcrass and Sierra Thomas (three) and Ashlee Thomas (two).
The Life Members Cup won by Lovell, who starts at Broadgreen Intermediate School this year, is determined by how close a swimmer’s times are to an international standard for the swimmer’s age. The formula uses a swimmer’s best six events, and swimmers must also compete in all four strokes to be eligible for the cup.