by St Paul's Collegiate School

National Secondary Schools swimming report

St Paul's had ten swimmers represent the school at the New Zealand Secondary Schools champs held in Hamilton from 15-18 October. St Paul's finished the meet placing third for co-educational schools in New Zealand and fourth overall amongst the 123 schools nationally that competed, to record their best finish in the school’s history.

St Paul’s fielded relay teams in all the 16 and over events, picking up national titles in the mixed 2x50 freestyle (Ben and Laura Littlejohn) and the mixed 4x50 freestyle (Ben, Laura, Luca Zabel, and Charlize Tordoff) and gained silver in the 4x50 medley relay. In other relays, the squad picked up six further top 7 finishes to continue adding to their points tally.

For the girls, Nikita Coleman was a great contributor in five of the relay teams, including the girls 4x50 freestyle relay who finished 5th in the 16 and overs category. Sam White also swam in the 5th placed 4x50 freestyle relay, as well as three individual events, swimming a personal best in her 50 freestyle. As well as featuring in team relays, Charlize Tordoff recorded four top 10 individual finishes in the 17 and 18-year-old age group with a best place of 4th in the 50 butterfly.

Laura Littlejohn won eight titles in the 16-year-old age group and one other silver medal. For the fourth time in four months, she broke the 16-year-old New Zealand 100 freestyle age group record recording 53.92 seconds. She is now .35 seconds outside the Open 100 freestyle record.

In the 16-year-old boys, Adrian Wong had a best finish of 16th in the 16-year-old boys 100 breaststroke in a personal best time. Ben Haskell swam three personal best times with a best finish of 13th in the 200 backstroke, while Sam Peoples swam in 11 individual events in the 16-year-old boys, with his best finish being 5th in the 200 butterfly.

Having fought hard to overcome a period of injury and illness, Luca Zabel achieved five top 10 finishes in the 17 and 18-year-old age group with a best finish of 5th in the 100 butterfly.

Ollie Mouat continued his butterfly dominance to win both the 50 and 100 butterfly titles in the 13-year-old boys while gaining a further silver medal in the 100 medley and had five other top 10 finishes.

Ben Littlejohn continued his excellent form winning five titles in the very competitive 17 and 18-year-old boys age group, plus a further silver and two bronze medals. His best swim came in the 200 freestyle where he was just 0.1 of a second outside the NZ age group record.

This was a fitting way for Mr Roger Bell to go out as Teacher in Charge of swimming in his final year of teaching. Mr Bell has been taking St Paul's teams to Secondary School Nationals since 2009 and his enthusiasm and passion have been inspirational for countless St Paul's swimmers over the years. He is a St Paul's swimming legend.