Signs of progress at swimming championships

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31926, 1 March 1969, Page 11

Signs of progress at swimming championships

Zealand swimming x can look forward with confidence to the 1970 Commonwealth Games and the inaugural World Championships the following year after the successful outcome of the national open title meeting in Auckland last week.

The soaring standard achieved at the championships was to be expected, after the busy season the leading competitors have experienced. The premier events, the teleprinter contest and the selection school trials in December: centre championships and the junior team's trip to Sydney in January; and the Japanese tour and the national age group meeting earlier in February all played their part in building up for the prestige meeting in the Newmarket pool.

The foremost figures at the championships were the two Canterbury swimmers, A. B. Kindred and Miss T. K. Shipston. As well as retaining their many titles with splendid times, they strode forward successfully to new fields of endeavour. Kindred overpowered the sprinters to win the 220 yd freestyle title, and Miss Shipston’s greatly improved butterfly technique enabled her to capture the records and titles over both distances.

The most marked advance In overall standard was achieved in the freestyle events, a not unexpected development in the light of the accent placed on the stroke by the national administration.

Kindred and Miss Shipston set a hot pace for all distances from 220 yd upwards, and their example was followed by M, J. Borrie and P. W. Laing (Otago), Miss J. A. Wright (Canterbury), and the juniors, M. F. Treffers (Southland), R. Moffitt (Taranaki) and Miss J. J. Uttiey (Manawatu). The sprints were full of triumphs and disasters for the leading contenders. I. J. Curry (Bay of Plenty) blotted .his copybook by missing a turn and finishing only fourth in the 220yd—an event in which he enjoyed warm favouritism. But he made amends with a convincing 110 yd swim to beat the title-holder, G. B. Smith (Auckland).

A lack-lustre effort in the heats of the 220 yd cost Smith, the title-holder, a place in the final—and probably led to his exclusion from the Canadian tour. He would have had to score a

record-breaking victory in the 110 yd to restore the selectors’ faith in him.

Catherine Whiting, the talented Christchurch girl who holds the senior and junior records for women’s 110 yd freestyle, was obviously jaded after two exacting tours in succession and failed to qualify for the sprint final. Then a back injury put her out of the 220 yd event. A slim, 15-year-old Auckland girl, Felicity Crawford, won the 110 yd final on merit for she was the best of the sprinters during the championships. But this is not to say that she would have won the title if it had been swum in January’, or this month.

Leadership in the women’s sprint field has changed rap-

idly this summer. In the early stages Miss Whiting looked unbeatable, then Heather Coombridge (Waikato) took over with new senior short course marks for 100 yd and 110 yd. At the age group championships, Miss Coombridge beat Miss Crawford for the un-der-16 title, but in the space of a week Miss Crawford reversed the placings. The Auckland girl was the only one of the younger group to qualify for the 220 yd final. Miss Coombridge was very disappointing at this distance, and was extremely fortunate to win a place in the touring team ahead of Misses Wright, Whiting and D. L. Fisher (Waikato), the national un-der-14 champion.

The other strokes did not excite as much interest as freestyle. H. W. Graham (breaststroke) and D. F. Gerrard (butterfly), champions of long standing, went out on a tide of success, but their younger rivals did not inspire much hope for the future. Miss G. J. Stirling (Auckland), although un-

well, maintained her fine backstroke form, but P. J. O’Carroll (Auckland) was a forlorn figure after his midseason bout of mumps and retained only one of his three titles. Miss D. H. McRae (Bay of Plenty), a good breaststroke prospect last season, is now merely one of five girls with equal standing in the stroke. There was cause for optimism, however, in the performances of B. A. Bond (Taranaki), a backstroke and medley specialist whose three gold medals earned him a trip to Canada. Bond has been waiting patiently in the wings for the last three years and at Auckland he proved a worthy successor to the notable allrounder, A. H. Seagar.

G. S. Walker and Susan Hunter, the Canterbury medley swimmers, gave notice at the championships that their day is not far distant. Miss Hunter stood up to her more mature rivals remarkably well and both she and Walker will benefit tremendously from the tour of Canada.