Team buoyed by success at the champs - May 2015
SWIMMING SUCCESS: Subway Wanganui swim team from left, Shannon Schimanski, Laura O'Keeffe (WHS student), Sarya Lower, Elena Forlong (WHS student) competed at the New Zealand age group championships.
THE Subway Wanganui Swim team rounded off the 2015 long-course season with another successful campaign at the New Zealand age group swim champs in Wellington last week.
The team of just four girls won two silver and three bronze medals and picked up another 12 top ten finishes to place exactly halfway up the overall teams leaderboard (35th) and 20th overall of the females.
The week started well with 14-year-old Shannon Schimanski picking up a bronze medal on the first day of the championships in the 100m breaststroke. This was particularly satisfying for Shannon and the Wanganui Swimming Club because her time of 1m 15.59s broke the Wellington regional age group record. Shannon became the first Wanganui club swimmer to break a Wellington record.
In the 13-year-old age group, Sarya Lower placed 4th with a personal best time of 1m 19.98s. Sarya and Elena Forlong, both 16, also made the finals in their respective 400 IM races, with Sarya placing 9th and Elena was disqualified for an incorrect turn in the backstroke/breaststroke transition.
Day two was Wanganui's most successful day with Sarya Lower smashing her entry time by over six seconds to claim her first national age group medal with a silver, and in the process break the Wanganui Club record for this event. Sarya's true ability as an all-rounder was shown with consistent swims across all four strokes.
Less than an hour later, Wanganui was back on the podium with Shannon Schimanski claiming her second bronze medal of the meet in the 50m breaststroke event.
Laura O'Keeffe, 17, then made her first appearance in the finals with a much improved swim to claim 8th place in the 400m freestyle.
The third day was a bit quieter for the Wanganui team with Shannon placing 8th in the 200m breaststroke and Sarya 5th in the 50m freestyle in another club record time of 28.49 seconds. However, as a team they got to display their skills in the 4 x 200m freestyle club relay. Going in to the event ranked 13th, they collectively knocked more than five seconds off their entry time to finish 8th overall, and the first team to finish from outside of Auckland or Waikato.
On the penultimate day of competition another medal was added to the haul. Elena Forlong produced a personal best and a Wanganui club record in the 16-year-old girls 100m butterfly to claim 3rd place in the final.
Both Sarya Lower and Laura O'Keeffe reached the finals in their age groups, with Sarya placing 7th and Laura 9th.
The final day of competition brought Wanganui's last medal of the championships and perhaps the best relay result the club has ever achieved.
Elena Forlong once again showed she is the second-ranked swimmer in her age group in the 200m butterfly with another silver in that event behind Yeonsu Lee of North Shore.
Sarya Lower finished strong with another personal best in the 100m freestyle to finish 7th and Shannon Schimanski placed a 9th in the 50m backstroke.
The best was saved for last with the over-16 4 x 100m medley relay. With Shannon and Sarya having to swim up an age group to make up the team of four swimmers, the team put in an outstanding effort without a specialist backstroker.
Laura O'Keeffe stepped up to swim a personal best time to set the team up, with the others all swimming close to or better than their personal bests for an outstanding 5th place.
The team now take a well-earned break for two weeks before their preparations start for the short course season.