Miss Shipston Wins All Swimming Awards

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31921, 24 February 1969, Page 11

Miss Shipston Wins All Swimming Awards

(Bu Our Swimming Reporter) AUCKLAND, February 23. Tonsilitis stopped Tui Shipston from talking on Saturday but it did not stop her from swimming to fresh fame at the final sessions of the New Zealand open championships in the Newmarket pool.

The Christchurch girl won three more titles to bring her tally to seven —a figure never before achieved at the championships. She was awarded the Baxter O’Neill Trophy for the swimmer of the year, the Harold Pettit Trophy for the highest individual [ points scorer at themeeting, and the International Award for the performance closest to a world record.

In blazing sunshine, competitors and officials lined both sides of the pool to salute Miss Shipston in another great moment of her remarkable swimming career. In four of her seven events she bettered the cut-off times of last year's Olympic Games, and on Saturday, in spite of her illness, she missed a fifth mark—the 220 yd freestyle—by only o.7sec. There were only two other swimmers at the championships who recorded times faster than the Olympic qualifying figures. One was the women’s backstroke chamnion. Miss G. J. Stirling (Auckland) and the other was the Canterbury freestyler, A B Kindred, who won his third gold medal of the meeting on Saturday with a powerhouse display in the 1650 yd event. , Swimming out in front allj the way. Kindred knocked more than 18sec off his pre-; vious national long course re-! cord. The final day's competition was also notable for two more good performances by the New Caledonian girl, Marie-Jose Kersaudy: the defeat of the longtime butterfly champion. D. F. Gerrard, by I. G. Campbell (Waikato): H. W. Graham's eighth win in the 220 yd breaststroke; and I. J. Curry’s face-saving victory in an exciting 110 yd freestyle final. Miss Kersaudy. who represented France at the Olympics last year, beat Miss Shipston in the 880 yd freestyle—repeating her feat in the quarter-mile event—; but she could not match the, Canterbury girl s withering finish in the 220 yd race. Campbell, who now speaks I

with a soft American accent after his year at Brigham Young University, Utah, started as favourite in the 110 yd butterfly as he had broken the national record in Hastings earlier in the month. He justified the faith placed in him by leading all the way to win in a time only o.3sec outside his new mark. Gerrard, making his last appearance at a national meeting, pressed him close all the way and recorded his best time of the season in finishing i second.

Fellow Auckland competitors made sure that Gerrard would remember his last national championships. They tossed him into the pool, clothes and all. during the closing ceremony.

Oldest Champion Graham retained his 230 yd breaststroke title and was justifiably proud of the fact that he was the oldest champion at Newmarket; he is six months older than Gerrard. .Although past his grand peak of 1965-66, Graham was too strong for his close rival, I. M. Johnstone (Southland).

The quicker-stroking Curry held a lead of about a foot over G. B. Smith (Auckland) in the men s sprint final, and eventually won by that margin, to atone for his shock failure in the 220 yd freestyle. Curry produced his fastest time, 56.45ec, in the heats, but this was not fast enough to beat Smith's national record of 55.8 sec.

The title-holder, P. J. O'Carroll (Auckland), reached the ' final only after a swim-off for sixth place with the rising , I young Timaru star, Paul Cleiland, who won the age group title over this distance at Masterton the previous week. But O'Carroll was never a threat in the final and finished last.

The young Auckland swimfiner, Colin Herring, equalled (the national junior record of <sB.6sec. in both heat and final tof this event.

Back Injury I Canterbury girls had their • share of physical setbacks on . | Saturday. As well as Miss Shipston's infected throat. Catherine Whiting’s back injury i caused her to scratch from the : 220 yd freestyle and Miss J. A. ’ Wright’s pulled stomach muscle ■ was still a little tender. But • with her customary determina- . tion, Miss Wright swam on to two more medals in freestyle i finals. In her six events, Miss Wright gained two silver : medals, and three bronze. I In the absence of Canterbury’s Miss L. M. Smith, the • women’s 220 yd breaststroke title : passed to Beth Williams, whose mother, the former Norma ■ Bridson, was national butterfly ■ champion for three years from 1949. Miss Williams beat the 110 yd champion, Donna Mcßae • Bay of Plenty), who did not I look completely fit for the

longer event. The first four girls home were juniors, and Jocelyn Hay (Canterbury), swam exceeding well for fourth place.

Kindred was in a class of his own in the 1650 yd event, and won by 37yd from P. W. Laing (Otago), with the promising M. F. Treffers (Southland) a creditable third. Miss Shipston retained her titles in the 220 yd and 880 yd freestyle and 220 yd medley, and in the latter event the 13-year-old Christchurch girl, Susan Hunter, gained her second bronze medal of the meeting with an excellent time of 2min 43sec, the best of her career.

Auckland retained the Yaldhurst Shield, for most title wins, with 12 successes to Canterbury’s 10 —all of which were gained by the “old firm” of Kindred and Miss Shipston. Bay of Plenty won four titles. Taranaki three, Waikato two, and Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay one. Auckland also retained the Freyberg Shield, for most points at both the open and age group championship, with Canterbury again second and Otago third.

Abbreviations used in the results are:—

A.. Auckland: 8.0. P., Bay of Plenty; C.. Canterbury: E.D., Eastern Districts: H.8.P.8.. Hawke’s Bav-Poverty Bay: M., Manawatu; 0., Otago: N.C.. New Caledonia; S., Southland; T., Taranaki; Wg.. Wanganui; Wk., Waikato; W., Wellington. Results were:— MEN 110 Yards Freestyle Heat 1: G. B. Smith (A.) 1. P. J. O'Carroll (A.) 2. G. S. Walker (C.) 3. Time. 58.0. Heat 2: I. J. Curry (8.0. P. 1. M. J. Borrie (0.) 2, I. G. Campbell • Wk.) 3. Time, 56.4. Heat 3: C. Herring (A.) 1. P. Cleland (E.D.) 2. J. Y. Mamelin (N.C.) 3. Time, 58.6. Qualifiers: Curry. Smith, Borrie. Campbell, Herring, O’Carroil. Final: Curry 1, Smith 2, Borrie 3. Time: 56.6. 1650 Yards Freestyle Heat 1: R. Moffitt (T.) 1. G. Dinneson (M.) 2, J. Daly (N.C.) 3. Time, 18:55.2. Heat 2: R. Brown (H.P.P.8.) 1. M. Sherriff (W.) 2, J. Tunnell (Wg.) 3. Time. 18:44.2. Heat 3: A. B. Kindred (C.) 1. P. W. Laing (O.) 2, M. F. Treffers (S.) 3. Time, 17:42.6 (N.Z. record). Result (based on heat times): Kindred 1, Laing 2, Treffers 3. 330 Yards Breaststroke Heat 1: I. M. Johnstone (S.) 1, L. Bree (M.) 2. G. Meade (H.8.P.8.) 3. Time, 2:52.5. Heat 2: H. W. Graham (A.) 1, K. Stirling (A.) 2, R. J. Wilson (C.) 3. Time. 2:47. Qualifiers: Graham. Johnstone. Bree, Wilson, Stirling, W. Baker (Southland). Final: Graham 1. Johnstone 2. Stirling 3. Time, 2:43.3.

110 Yards Butterfly Heat 1: D. F. Gerrard A.) 1, S. Tynan (H.8.P.8.) 2, D. McKenna (A.) 3. Time, 1:3.2. Heat 2: I. G. Campbell (Wk.) 1, M. F. Toomey (O.) 2, A. F. Barfoot (A.) 3. Time, 1:2.7. Qualifiers: Campbell, Gerrard. Toomey, McKenna, Tynan, Barfoot. Final: Campbell 1, Gerrard 2, Toomey 3. Time, 1:1.2. WOMEN 220 Yard? Freestyle Heat 1: M. J. Kersaudy (N.C.) 1, F. Crawford (A.) 2, H. Coombridge (Kk.) 3. Time, 2:21.5. Heat 2: J. A. Wright (C.) 1. L. Shirley (W.) 2, M. Hanner (N.C.) 3. Time, 2:26.5. Heat 3: S .Hanner (N.C.) 1. J. J. Uttley (M.) 2, D. L. Fisher (Wk.) 3. Time, 2:21.7. Heat 4: T. K. Shipston (C.) 1, M. D. Anewy (N.C.) 2, S. Hallam (C.) 3. Time, 2:21.8. Qualifiers: Shipston, Kersaudy, Hanner, Wright, Uttley, Crawford. Final: Shipston 1, Kersaudy 2, Hanner 3. Time. 2:17.7. 880 Yards Freestyle Heat 1: B. Griffith (A.) 1, B. Watson (W.) 2, J. parkhouse (C.) 3. Time, 10:44.4. Heat 2: J. Black (M.) 1. R. Amies (8.0. P. 2, B. Braithwaite (C.) 3. Time, 10:40.4. Heat 3: M. J. Kersaudy (N.C.) 1, T. K. Shipston (C.) 2. M. D. Anewy (N.C.) 3. Time, 9:59.9. Result (based on heat times): Kersaudy 1. Shipston 2. Anewy 3, 110 Yards Backstroke Final: G. J. Stirling (A.) 1. V. Pickett (W.) 2, A. Dubois (N.C.) 3. Time, 1:12.9. 220 Yards Breaststroke Heat 1: J. Brimblecombe (A.) 1, N. Dunlop (S.) 2, C. Twist (0.) 3. Time, 3:4.9. Heat 2: J. Hay (C.) 1, K. McKenzie (O.) 2, C. Orr (M.) 3. Time. 3:7.1. Heat 3: D. H. Mcßae (8.0. P. 1, B N. Williams (A.) 2. M. Hill (8.0. P. 3. Time, 3:5.4. Heat 4: L. Puddle (W.) 1. H. Wilson (W.) 2. K. Crawford (E.D.) 3. Time, 3:12.7. Qualifiers: Brimblecombe. Mcrae, Dunlop, Williams. Hay, Twist. Final: Williams 1. Mcßae 2, Dunlop 3. Time, 2:57.6. 220 Yards Medley Heat 1: V. Pickett (W.) 1, S. Hanner (N.C.) 2, S. Hallam (C.) 3. Time, 2:48.3. Heat 2: B. N. Williams (A.) 1. S. Hunter (C.) 2, H. Coombridge (Wk) 3. Time, 2:44.8. Heat 3. T. K. Shipston (C.) I, J. Black (M.) 2, D. C. Myers (0.) 3. Time, 2:41.8. Qualifiers: Shipston, Williams. Hunter, Black, Pickett, Hanner. Final: Shipston 1, Williams 2. Hunter 3. Time. 2:37.2. Stalag Shield medley relay (four men, four women): Northern (R. P. Ayson, H. W. Graham, I. G. Campbell. G, B. Smith, Misses G. J. Stirling, D. H. McRae. B. N. Williams. F. Crawford) 1. Southern 2, Central 3. Time. 4:17.6.