McKenzie top swimmer for third time
Sam McKenzie bagged a notable swimming hat-trick when the Swimming Nelson Marlborough awards were presented at the region’s short course championships in Blenheim at the weekend.
McKenzie, 18, of the Tasman Swim Club and Waimea College, claimed the Wendy Fryer Cup for ‘‘Swimmer of the Year’’ for the third consecutive year.
He also took home the Belsham Trophy for the best swim of the year, after recording 51.93 seconds in the 100m freestyle in a 50m pool.
McKenzie showed at the weekend’s meet why he is so highly regarded, breaking Nelson Marlborough open records in the 100m and 200m freestyle. He also set meet records in four freestyle events and the 100m breaststroke.
Piper Riley, 13, also from the Tasman Swim Club and Waimea College, broke a meet record by the highest percentage margin to claim a $100 prize, blitzing the 1500m freestyle record by one minute and 25 seconds. Riley broke another two records and won the 13-14 age group trophy by a point from fellow Tasman swimmer, Bree Anderson.
Tasman took home five out of the eight age group trophies with Lucca Traut (10 and under), Isabella Thurlow (11-12), Bendi Kepess (13-14) and Moab Heynekamp (15 and over) achieving the most points for their age groups.
Geena Langlois,16, from the Blenheim Swim Club and Marlborough Girls’ College, won the cup for girls 15 and over, while teammate Ryan Marsh won the boys 11-12 age group. Nelson South’s Caitlin Eden won the girls 10 and under trophy.
Nelson South Swim Club won the mixed 400m medley relay for 13-14 year olds, interrupting a potential clean sweep of the medley and freestyle relays by Tasman, who won the other seven.
A strong team of 63 swimmers from the Tasman club easily won the overall points competition while two visitors from St Peter’s Swimming Club (Cambridge) had the highest points per swimmer.
Matthew Peacock, 11, from St Peter’s took home eight gold medals from individual events, a feat matched by Traut and Thurlow. Riley, Kepess and Brooke Swan, 10, from Tasman and Clara Foster, 17, and Eden from Nelson South won seven gold medals apiece. Nelson South’s Skye Humphries, 12, and Anderson both took home six gold medals.
George Glover, 14, topped the medal tally for the Blenheim swimmers with five golds. Megan Clark, 16, and Ryan Marsh,11, won four golds each, Langlois picked up three, Sophie Woodhouse, 15, achieved two victories and Thomas Loza, 14, won gold in the 800m freestyle. Clark, Langois, Woodhouse and Oliver Mandeno, 13, combined for third place in the 15 and over 400m freestyle event.
Hannah Bingham, 16, won gold for the Waimea Swimming Club in the 50m backstroke.
Swimming Nelson Marlborough will host the South Island championships in Blenheim from August 25-27, which will serve as a warm up for the top swimmers for the NZ Short Course Champs held in Auckland in early October.