Two more records in Heats at Swim NZ Meet

There were two further national records on the second morning of heats at the New Zealand Summer Swim Championships in Christchurch today.

North Shore’s Cameron Stanley went under his own mark in topping qualifiers in heats of the 200m backstroke, while West Auckland’s Michael Jack also bettered his own record in the heats of the 200m freestyle at the QE2 Leisure Centre.

Stanley dominated the heats to clock 1:54.07 in his heat of the 200m backstroke, which was 7/10ths under the record he set at Tauranga in June. He was nearly five seconds faster than the second qualifier, club mate John Zulch.

Jack, 23, again impressed with a strong effort in the 200m freestyle, clocking 1:45.08 which lowered his own national record by 7/100ths of a second. He set the previous mark at the Sydney World Cup in October where he broke the long standing record held by Danyon Loader.

He was five seconds ahead of second qualifier Ryan Nolan from Melbourne followed, by the North Shore trio of Andrew McMillan, Moss Burmester and Matt Thomas.

Others to shine in the heats included Olympians Melissa Ingram in the 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke, Corney Swanepoel in the 50m butterfly, Hayley Palmer in the 50m freestyle and 100m Individual Medley and Daniel Bell in the 200m Individual Medley. He broke one New Zealand record last night and equalled another in a strong display.

The finals start at 6pm tonight with the final day tomorrow

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11th December 2008

There were two national records on the first night of finals at the New Zealand Summer Championships in Christchurch tonight.

Daniel Bell (West Auckland), the world youth champion, broke the record in the men’s 100m individual medley while Hayley Palmer (North Shore) set a new mark in the 1000m freestyle at the QE2 Leisure Centre.

There were classy performances from Olympians Melissa Ingram in winning the women’s 200m backstroke and Glenn Snyders in the 50m breaststroke, while Australian world record-holder Marieke Guehrer showed her class winning the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle.

Bell took over the mantle from swimming legend Dean Kent, pipping the veteran in his final swim to claim the 100m medley in 54.20, 3/10ths inside Kent’s previous New Zealand record.

Kent, an 11-time winner of the title, finished second in his final event at national level, deciding a few weeks ago to prepare for the meet.

“I’m coming in here on some pretty hard work and I’ve been close to that record a couple of times,” Bell said. “It was a bit unfortunate to get on Deano’s final meet. He told me he was happy I got it and he is one of those guys who loves seeing young guys come through and taking his records, and he is always offering to help.

“We gave each other a high five and a hug. He has set the standard in this event and I’ve been chasing him down for a couple of years now. “

Palmer got an excellent drag behind Guehrer in the 100m freestyle, coming through in second place behind the world record-holder in 54.35, 1/100th inside her own record.

“I was expecting faster and I have been feeling like I probably should have gone faster. But at the end of the day it’s a PB, it’s a New Zealand record, so it’s faster than any other New Zealand woman has gone before. So taking that into account I really can’t complain about it,” Palmer said.

Ingram, back from her outstanding run of success including three national records in the FINA World Cup series, was all class in winning the 200m backstroke in 2:05.03, just outside her New Zealand mark. But it earned her a superb 997 FINA points, the best swim on world terms for the night.

North Shore clubmate Penelope Marshall was second in 2:06.53, a big personal best and leap-frogging her to second in the overall rankings for the night in FINA points.

Another Olympian Snyders was in impressive form , just 2/100ths outside his record in winning the 50m breaststroke in 27.33 from Blair Jacobs (Napier Aquahawks) and Chad Konik (North Shore).

The performance delighted Snyders who has just completed a heavy training phase.

“I’ve just come off a nine week cycle. The training has been all endurance stuff. It has gone well. That was right on my PB, so to do that off big training only at this time of the year makes me pretty happy, and pretty excited about what I can achieve in the 100.”

Earlier Michael Jack powered home to win the 400m freestyle impressively as he resets his goals.

“I had a disappointing Olympic trials which made me reassess what I was doing, how I was training and how I went about things,” Jack said.

“I have shortened up my mileage and made it much more intense and getting the results.”

He broke Danyon Loader’s record over 200m freestyle at the Sydney World Cup and has now set his goals on making the team to next year’s world championship, the Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Olympics.

Moss Burmester showed his experience to out-distance clubmate Andrew McMillan to win the 200m butterfly in a handy 1:55.80 with Shaun Burnett making it a North Shore trifecta.

Fifteen year old Chloe Francis (North Shore) claimed two New Zealand Open titles in her first national short course championships, setting New Zealand age group records on the way to winning the 100m breaststroke and 800m freestyle.

The championships conclude on Saturday.