by St Paul's Collegiate School

Another record-breaking swim for Ben Littlejohn

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From the 3rd to the 7th of October Ben Littlejohn represented New Zealand against the Australian States in Canberra at the Australian State Teams Championships.

Ben won both his specialist 50m and 100m butterfly events against the best junior swimmers in New Zealand and Australia. His time of 23.91 seconds in the 16-17-year-old boys' 50m butterfly broke the New Zealand record for 17-year-old boys which had stood since 2003 and was also his first Waikato open record. His 100m butterfly time was a Waikato age group record. 

In his freestyle events out of approximately 25 swimmers, Ben finished 6th in the 50m free, 4th in the 100m freestyle and 5th in the 200m freestyle. Two of these times were Waikato age-group records. 

This was an outstanding achievement and great experience. Credit must go to the St Paul's swimming club and in particular, Ben's coach Graham Smith who also selected as one of five New Zealand coaches on the trip.

You can view his impressive record-breaking race via the St Paul's Facebook page.