Swim coach eyes women's relay prospects for Commonwealth Games

 

New national head swim coach Mark Regan is on a mission to develop the country’s freestyle ranks as they prepare for the State Insurance New Zealand Championships starting in Waitakere City tomorrow.

Regan, former head of the Australian Institute programme and the Danish national team, has guided endurance swimmers to world championship and Olympic success.

Now he is eying the development of the women’s 200m freestyle group, hopeful that they can push each other to achieve relay qualification this week in the championships that double as the official Commonwealth Games Trials.

 Relays have been a key part of the development of successful swim programmes, particular across the Tasman, with a group of talented kiwi females closing in on the two minute mark needed to secure a berth in New Delhi.

“To develop any group to world class you need depth so they can push each other,” Regan said. “Relays are the best way to develop that depth and that competition and right now we have a bunch of women who are there or thereabouts.

“With time I believe we can achieve that. There’s a chance for them next week if they can push each other and really step up.”

They won’t have to wait long to find out with the women’s 200m freestyle first up on the programme on Monday at the West Wave Aquatic Centre in Waitakere City.

The four best times must better the qualifying standard of 7min 59.52sec for the women, with New Zealand record holder Melissa Ingram the only swimmer under the two minute mark with a best of 1:58.32.

There is a bevy of swimmers under 2:02 including Beijing Olympic relay swimmer Tash Hind (Capital) and her fellow Swimming NZ high performance squad member Amaka Gessler (Aqua Gym), the North Shore pair of Penny Marshall and 16-year-old Chloe Francis and brilliant 14-year-old prospect Sophia Batchelor (Aqua Gym, Christchurch).

Added to that is the return of Melbourne Commonwealth Games relay medallist Lauren Boyle, who has just completed her swimming scholarship at the University of California. Boyle returns home in form after a series of superb performances in the NCAA Championship.

New Zealand will also be looking to qualify a men’s medley relay team, after their fifth placing in Beijing, and potentially the 4x100m freestyle relay, where world championship teammates Michael Jack (West Auckland Aquatics) and Andrew McMillan (North Shore) are the only swimmers under that key 50-second barrier.

The championships begin tomorrow until Friday with heats from 10am and finals from 6pm, along with the Skins-Charity Meet on Saturday 10 April that features most of New Zealand’s greats from the past.

The special guest for the final day and the Charity meet is Australian legend Ian Thorpe.

Full details: www.swimmingnz.org.nz