Nelson Marlborough "top region" at South Island Champs

Seventeen swimmers from Blenheim, Nelson South and Tasman Swim Clubs collected a total of 48 medals between them at the South Island Champs in Timaru last weekend and brought home the trophy for the region with most points per competitor.

Sally McMath (16) from Blenheim swam superbly, topping the regional medal tally with five gold and three silver medals and setting five Nelson Marlborough Open records. Caitlin Delaney (16) and Sam McKenzie (15) from Tasman won four gold medals each, with Sam claiming three Nelson Marlborough Age Group records.

Photo: Sally McMath showing her form in the butterfly.

Clara Foster (14) of Nelson South won two gold medals and four silvers, while Thomas Heaton (15) of Tasman picked up two gold, one silver and a bronze and broke his own Nelson Marlborough open record in the 1500m freestyle.

Sophia Elder (13) of Tasman won a gold medal and two bronze while setting three new regional age group records. Her Tasman teammates Madisen Stanley (18), Cara Pearson (18) and James Fleury (14) and Nelson South’s Matai McGuinniety (14) all added to the region’s medal tally.

Samantha Smith (Tasman) and Lucy Kerry (Blenheim) joined Foster and Elder to win silver in the 13-14 year-old girls’ 200m freestyle relay. They came within a whisker of the gold, pipped by Canterbury West Coast by the barest of margins – 0.06 seconds.

There were 68 personal best times achieved at the meet with Matai McGuinniety getting PBs in all nine of his events and Sophia Elder achieving PBs in all of her six events. An added bonus for some swimmers was achieving qualifying times for national meets for the first time.

Stephen Fryer, President of Swimming Nelson Marlborough, said “This is a top performance from our young swimmers and a great reward for the effort put in by the swimmers, the coaches and team managers. Competitive swimming in the top of the South is strong and getting stronger”. 

Medals won and records broken are shown below.