The HBHS Swim team overcame tough competition from St Paul’s Collegiate to earn an overall victory at the Waikato Secondary Schools Swimming meet earlier this year. Despite going to the event down 8 swimmers due to injury and illness, the swimmers who attended the meet swum their hearts out, earning the top boys school award for the eighteenth year in a row as well as the top overall school for the fifth year in a row.
Special mention must be made of Orlando Hardie (Year 9) who broke the meet record in all 3 of his events:
???? 200m Individual Medley in a new time of 2:19.89
???? 100m Freestyle in a new time of 55.91
???? 200m Freestyle in a new time of 2.04.45
Also Captain of Swimming, Dominic Fawkner (Year 13), broke the meet record in the 100m Butterfly in a time of 59.16.
Overall we achieved 19 first placings, 14 second placings as well as 9 third placings with a huge contribution made by each and every one of the 25 swimmers who were able to attend the meet.
Our HBHS Swimmers competed in the National Age Group Swimming Championships, which were held in Wellington from the 19th to the 24th of April. Competing were Elijah Singleton, Kinnon Broekhuizen, Ethan Macdonald, Graysen Elliott, Orlando Hardie and Max Downey. Swimmers can train up to 10 times a week year round for up to two hours at a time in the pool and do land training on top of this. A special mention goes out to Orlando Hardie, who ended up with four National titles (this is on the back of winning a National title at the NZSS Open Water Championships a couple of weeks earlier) and was close to breaking the New Zealand record in the 100m freestyle. He missed it by 0.08 sec. The results were as follows:
Max Downey
???? 50m Breaststroke, 100m Breaststroke
???? 200m Breaststroke
5th 100m Butterfly
Ethan Macdonald
???? 200m Backstroke
???? 4 x 100m Men’s Freestyle Relay for 15 and under
4th 4x 100m Men’s Medley Relay for 15 and under
Elijah Singleton
7th 400m Medley
8th 200m Breaststroke
7th 4 x200m men’s freestyle relay
Orlando Hardie
???? 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle
???? 400m Medley, 50m Freestyle
???? 200m Medley
???? 4 x 100m Mixed Medley Relay for 15 and under
???? 4 x 100m Men’s Freestyle Relay for 15 and under
4th 4x 100m Men’s Medley Relay for 15 and under
Kinnon Broekhuizen
5th 200m Butterfly
???? 4 x 100m Men’s Freestyle Relay for 15 and under
4th 4x 100m Men’s Medley Relay for 15 and under
7th 4 x 200m Men’s Freestyle Relay
Huge congratulations to these boys on these results!
Open Water Swimming
Our Open Water Swimming team had a very good day in the water at Mount Maunganui on the first Saturday in April. The team won three bronze and one gold medal, with Orlando Hardie finishing first in the 1.25km 12 – 13 age group. The full list of results is as follows, and congratulations to all of our swimmers and supporters.
Swimmers over a 2.8km distance:
???? Quinn Boyle, 15 – 19 age group
9th Elijah Singleton, 15 – 19 age group
17th Joshua Baker,15 – 19 age group
Swimmers over a 1.25km distance:
???? Orlando Hardie, 12 – 13 age group
???? Dominic Fawkner, 15 – 19 age group
4th Quinn Boyle, 15 – 19 age group
Swimmers over a 500m distance:
???? Dominic Fawkner, 15 – 19 age group
4th Quinn Boyle, 15 – 19 age group
Ice Swimming
While the rest of us were wrapping up and keeping warm inside during the July school holidays, Quinn Boyle was braving 3.6 degree water (!) in the Alexandra Outside Pool, becoming a New Zealand Junior Champion. He also broke three (two official – the 100m and 250m, and the unofficial 500m record) age group world records for the International Ice Swimming Association. There are 73 countries in the association. Kia kaha to you, Quinn, on this achievement. Quinn is in for some more cold water, as he has been selected to represent New Zealand at the World Ice Swimming Championships to be held in France in 2023. Tino pai, Quinn, on this achievement!