Tasman swimmers up against country’s best

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Talya Harwood, Thomas Heaton and Caitlin Delany of the Tasman Swimming Club tested themselves against New Zealand’s Olympic swimmers at the 2016 New Zealand Open Swimming Championships last week and came up smiling, with Talya and Thomas narrowly missing out on podium finishes.

Talya, 17, competed against Lauren Boyle and made the finals in all three of her events, improving her personal bests by 9 seconds in the 400m and 800m freestyle and claiming 4th place in the 1500m freestyle.

Thomas, who attends Garin College, had two PBs as well, in the 400m and 800m free, and was 4th in the 1500m, just missing 3rd place by 0.05 seconds.

Caitlin (Waimea College) had three PBs and three finals, including 5th place in the 50 breaststroke.

The meet serves as the Olympic trial for New Zealand swimmers, and six swimmers, including Boyle, qualified in eight events.

A further trial will be staged in Canada next week for the 13 NZ swimmers who are based in North America.

It capped off a good week for Talya.

The Waimea College student was named last week to represent New Zealand at the World Junior Open Water Championships at Hoorn in the Netherlands from July 16 to 18. She was also selected for Sport Tasman’s Pathway to Podium programme for New Zealand’s rising young sports stars.

Also chosen for the Pathway to Podium programme were Sam McKenzie of Tasman Swim Club (Waimea College) and Clara Foster of Nelson South Swimming Club (Nelson College for Girls).