Swim times approved

Press, 9 March 1978, Page 30

Swim times approved

KEVIN TUTTY

By

Brett Naylor, lan Bullock and Martin Craig, three prospects for the Edmonton Commonwealth Games swimming team, will be permitted to submit shortcourse times for consideration for Games nomination. The New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association’s council decided this week to accept th.e times after a lengthy telephone call to the N.Z.A.S.A. general-secretary (Nir R. N. Forster) from the trio’s American coach, Glenn Patton, at the University of lowa. The New Zealand selectors

stated when they announced the Edmonton standards that only long-course times would be considered. However, the three cannot get long-course competition until the end of this month, and for this reason the council decided to accept the shortcourse times.

The trio competed in a major inter-collegiate carnival last week-end and Patton was to cable times from that meeting. Mr Forster said they had not arrived last evening, but was expecting them in the next couple of days. • Patton told Mr Forster that the three were peaking for last week-end’s meeting, and although he did not give

any times he said they had been performing very well. Nominations for the Edmonton team to be submitted to the Olympic and Commonwealth Games selectors for final consideration will be announced on March 19, the day after the New Zealand championships finish at Queen Elizabeth II Park.

Swimmers and divers will have another four months, ho\vever, to reach the target times set for the world championships in West Berlin from August 19 to 30 — a week after Edmonton. Entries close on August 8 so members of the Edmonton team will have the first five days of competition in Canada to achieve the Berlin targets.