Staples brilliant in NT swimming resurgence
JOSHUA Staples’ sizzling finish in the boys 12 years 200m individual medley saw him claim fourth place and highlight the opening three sessions of the School Sport Australia National Championships at Casuarina.
The local swimmer clocked 2:31.94, just behind NSW trio Daniel Seo, Cooper Eakin and Justin Lee.
NT coach Tim Few said Staples shows a lot of promise.
“It was a big personal best, he only just missed out on the bronze by 0.5 of a second,” he said.
“This is the national event, each state brings some of their top swimmers and especially for the NT, to get anywhere near podium is fantastic.”
Meanwhile, in the girls 13-14 years IM, Rosanna Materazzo finished eighth after she swam 2:41.76, while another Territorian, Paige Lawson, finished four spots back.
Jenti White finished seventh in the girls 13-14 200m freestyle after swimming 2:22.03.
The Territory’s 200m 10 years girls medley relay team of Terangimarie Moanaroa, Hayley Messenger, Madeline Howell and Keysha Bui-Oat- way claimed a respectable eighth. They clocked 2:38.82, with NSW and Queensland both finishing first and second respectively.
Few said it was a great result across the board for the Territory.
“On a whole every swimmer from the NT have smashed their PB’s left, right and centre, so everyone is swimming as fast as they have ever swum before,” he said.
“All of the kids club coaches have done the hard yards with them for the last six or seven months and even building on from years of work they had done in the past.”