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The start of something extraordinary

Three multiple winners on opening day of State national junior swim champs

There were three multiple winners on the opening night of the State New Zealand Junior Swimming Championships in Wellington.

Wellington’s Chelsea Edwards from the SwimZone Racing club was the sole female to win two events, while North Shore’s Andy Cheong and Tawa’s Joel Crampton took out two wins in the male competition at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre in Kilbirnie.

Edwards, 12, won the 400m freestyle in 4:44.91 by more than five seconds from two Masterton swimmers and also prevailed in the 100 butterfly in 1:09.38.

Cheong, 10, took out the 200m backstroke in 2:45.59 and also the 100m butterfly in 1:19.18, while Crampton, 11, won the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:35.01 and the 100m butterfly in 1:07.81.

There were seven other girls to win titles today with Jelani Freesir-Wetzell from Howick Pakuranga winning the 10 years 200 backstroke, Gina McCarthy (Ace, Waikato) claiming the 11 years 50m breaststroke, Alice Waldow (United Auckland) the 10 years 100m butterfly, Isabella Akroyd (Otumoetai, BOP) the 11 years 100m butterfly, Emily Doughty (Parnell, Auckland) the 12 years 50m breaststroke, Arianna Wright (Napier Aquahawkes) the 10 years  50m breaststroke,  Holly Marshall (Kiwi Swim, Manawatu) the 11 years 200m backstroke and Georgia Walker (Coast Auckland) the 12 years 200m backstroke.

In the boys competition the other winners were Joshua Gilbert (Swim Taranaki) 12 years 200m backstroke, Jack Plummer (Tawa) 11 years 50m breaststroke, Baily Wang (North Shore) 12 years 50m breaststroke, Gus Andrews (Greendale) 10 years 100m breaststroke, Henri Rollinson (Jasi, Canterbury) 12 years 400m freestyle and Kieran Pangalila (Coast) the 12 years 100m butterfly.

It was the first day of the three day meet, with two further sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday for swimmers 12 years and under.

NZ Juniors