I caught up with McKenzie last week about her swimming career. It is fair to say it has been a long time in the making for this article.

I became aware of McKenzie’s success when Lisa posted a picture on the school facebook page. My first thought was – how did I not know about this??!!

Before now, my connection with McKenzie at Hagley had been through her involvement and excellent contribution to the student council that I facilitate.

McKenzie explained to me that she learnt to swim when she was really young. She stopped for a while and then got back into it in 2018, but very much in a non-competitive environment. It was only in 2021 that McKenzie started swimming competitively. This involved competing in some swim meets in Canterbury and up north. McKenzie is also a keen ocean swimmer – she is the Girls' U17 champion in the 750m ocean swim category. This is a fantastic achievement! McKenzie competed again this year and tells me how gutted she was that she took a detour on the course and ended up 4th. In true McKenzie style though she described that she was really disappointed but you just get over it and get on with the next thing. What a great attitude!

In July, McKenzie went to Hamilton for the New Zealand Para Secondary Schools swim meet. She placed third in the 200m freestyle, which is an outstanding effort.

This medal was the product of a lot of hard work! She usually trains five to six days a week. Some of this training is in the pool and some is dry land training to build strength. McKenzie has a rest day on a Sunday. At other times McKenzie trains a lot less than that, such as when she is studying and sitting mock exams and when she has just finished a big competition.

McKenzie explains her motivation for sticking with all this training as being that she is very competitive and really enjoys this aspect of swimming. She is goal driven and has set a long term goal of representing New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games or Olympics. Interestingly, and not surprisingly, her role-model is Sophie Pascoe! Side note: Sophie is an ex Hagley student – she studied in the Hagley School of Fashion. It was nice to be able to share that with McKenzie.

This workload can’t be easy, even for the most determined and competitive swimmer such as McKenzie. She finds the hardest part is getting up in the mornings and fitting all this training in with school and homework. The other part is pushing through hard sets when she is tired.

Swimming is not the only thing McKenzie is good at – she maintains that her proudest moment is coming first in the regional cross country competition two years in a row. She said the best part was seeing her family and Clint Pilkington from Hagley Sport cheering her on. McKenzie is very appreciative of her parents and all they do for her - picking her up after training and taking her to competitions. They are very supportive of her and I am sure proud of her!

McKenzie’s advice for Hagley students is to get on board and enjoy the ride. It is really important that you like doing what you do! She also has some excellent advice on prioritising what you have to do! Take time to study around exams and mock exams. It is important to balance school work with your other passions.

Hagley is very proud of you, McKenzie, and all you have achieved! We look forward to following your career! We wish you all the best!