Junior swim talent upstages seniors

Press, 21 December 1977, Page 36

Junior swim talent upstages seniors

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Junior girls will steal the limelight from the senior' men and women at the Canterbury swimming cham-| pionships next month, judging by the depth and standard of their entries. With names like Deirdre Walls, Lynette Griffiths, Sandra Tully and Rochelle Inkster in the age-group, it will be an accomplishment; in some events to make the) final.

The 100 m freestyle has: the highest entry of any) event at the championships — 27.

Only one event — the 200 m breaststroke — has insufficient entries to require heats.

Surprisingly, the 200 m individual medley has at-' traded 22 entries, and other) junior girls’ events with big| entries are the 200m'

freestyle (20), and the 100 m backstroke and butterfly (18).

Two clashes to look forward to are the women’s 100 and 200 m breaststroke. Rickie Binning and Miss Walls, from Nelson-Marlbor-ough, both of whom are seeking to qualify for the Commonwealth Games next year, will meet in these events.

Tracy Turnbull would have added further interest to the events, but she will not now compete. Instead she will be on tour with the New Zealand team in the international series. Melanie Jones would also have been in several events but she too is a member of t'he New Zealand team.

By comparison entries in the women’s events are few and only three of the 13 senior titles to be decided will require heats. The en-i tries in the men’s section

are a little better and eight of the 13 events will have heats. Over-all entries for the; championships are up by 30 per cent, and to some extent a new format has been responsible for this. Previously heats have been held two weeks before the finals, but this year heats and finals will be held in the same session. Most other centres use this format and it has the advantage of allowing teams from outside the centre to compete. Previously outsiders had to swim in the heats and return two weeks later for the finals.

This year the championships have attracted entries from Eastern Districts and Nel s o n-Marlborough. If Otago’s championships had not clashed — from January 20 to 27 — swimmers from that centre would almost certainly have entered.