From the 14th to 6th of September five of our top swimmers travelled to Wellington to compete at the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Swimming Championships.

Over five hundred swimmers around the country competed in the Championship. The OGHS team consisted of Year 10 students Madison Wills, Jemma Wilson, Charlotte Underwood-Nicol, Charlotte Hewson, and Year 12 student Esme Paterson (team captain). The meet started off with a ‘bang’ as the junior relay (Madison Wills, Jemma Wilson, Charlotte Underwood-Nicol and Charlotte Hewson) were placed 3rd in the 15 &U 4x100m freestyle relay. The junior team proceeded to keep up their exceptional competitiveness placing 5th in the 4x50m medley relay and 4th in the 4x50m freestyle relay.

There were also many outstanding individual placings and personal best times by all the girls. Here are some of the highlights:

Madison Wills:

-2nd 200m breastroke

-8th 100m individual medley

-3rd 100m breastroke

-6th 50m breastroke

-4th 400m freestyle

-5th 200m individual medley

Jemma Wilson:

-3rd 50m butterfly

-8th 100m breastroke

-9th 100m freestyle

-7th 50m breastroke

Charlotte Hewson:

-7th 50m butterfly

Charlotte Underwood-Nicol:

-16th 100m freestyle

Esme Paterson:

-9th 200m butterfly

-9th 100m butterfly

The Otago Girls’ team came 12th overall out of 60 Girls’ Secondary School teams across the nation. This is extremely impressive considering the team consisted of only five swimmers. It was the first time our junior swimmers had participated in a National Secondary Schools’ competition. This is promising for the future of Otago Girls’ swimming.

A huge thanks and ‘shout out’ to Penelope Underwood and Gina Wills who managed the team and made the competition run smoothly and a whole lot more enjoyable. They both did an amazing job and we could not have achieved the calibre of results without their contribution.

Esme Paterson

Team Captain