During the April school holidays, five Christchurch Girls' High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora students travelled to Napier to compete in the National Age Group Championships for swimming.

Over the course of the week, Ashlee Baars, Hanna Abdou, Charlotte Parmenter, Holly Smith and Izzy Parmenter competed against hundreds of New Zealand top age group swimmers. 

All the girls swam very well, coming away with personal best times.

Congratulations to Ashlee for coming away with 4th place at her very first national competition. Charlotte and Hanna had enormous success this week, with multiple medals and titles.

Hanna achieved:

•  Gold in the Girls 16 years 400m Fr
•  Silver in the Girls 16 years 200m Bk
•  4th in the Girls 16 years 100 Bk, 200 Fr, 800 Fr

Charlotte achieved:

• Gold in the Girls 15 years 50m Fr
•  Gold in the Girls 15 years 100m Fr
•  Silver in the Mixed 16&O 4x50m mixed freestyle relay
•  4th in the Girls 15 years 200m Fr and 400m Fr

After the week's racing, a committee met to determine the 10 athletes (5 girls and 5 boys) that would be selected to represent NZ at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in August.

Congratulations to Hanna and Charlotte, who were both elected to represent NZ in this team competing from the 4th to the 11th of August in Trinidad. 

On top of this, Charlotte and Hanna have also been nominated for the NZ 2023 Tri-Series team, where they will travel to Hawkes Bay in September for a week of training and racing against a Western Australia, Victorian State and Oceanian team. 

Good luck to both of you at these international meets. 

In addition to Charlotte and Hanna's success in the pool, Holly has been invited to attend a National Distance/Open Water camp in Napier in October as well as being selected for the NZ Open Water team competing at the New South Wales Open Water Champs in December. 

Good luck to you too Holly.