Only two rejected swimmers at final trial

Press, 11 June 1982, Page 32

Only two rejected swimmers at final trial

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Only two of the six swimmers rejected by the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games selectors last month will swim at the final Commonwealth Games trial at Queen Elizabeth II Park tomorrow ingThey are Kim Dewar and Megan Tohill. Miss Dewar is from Canterbury, and Miss Tohill has been training in Christchurch with the Wharenui squad for two weeks. Six other swimmers from the North Island will attend the trial, which will be part of a regular Canterbury inter-club carnival, and a

group of six is expected from Dunedin. These swimmers coming to Christchurch are all within reach of the Games qualifying standards, and the absence of the other four rejects suggests that they either believe they have done enough to qualify for the Games — or they have been told they have done enough to qualify. Several coaches and swimming officials contacted last evening were tight-lipped on both suggestions. Swimmers attending the final trial will have to pay their own costs, and the six North Islanders who consider the expense is worthwhile

are Paul Kingsman and Sarah Mahon (Auckland), Pamela Croad (Levin), Margaret Hesketh (Wellington) and Amanda Hay and Carmel Clarke (Hawke’s Bay). There has been no indication whether Gail Jonson (Waikato), who was only a second outside the 200 m medley qualifying time two weeks ago in Hamilton, will attend. Three Canterbury swimmers are all within reach of the qualifying times. They are Andrew O’Donoghue who is 0.3 s off the 100 m freestyle target, and Kara Taumaunu and Grant Gillard in backstroke events. The latter two have

more ground to make up than O’Donoghue however. Two weeks ago Kingsman, only 14, came within o.Bs of the 200 m backstroke target of 2min 10.0 s at time trials after a two-week training camp in Hamilton. Last year Taumaunu was within 0.5 s of the target, and if he is in the mood to approach it again tomorrow evening, the pair could drag each other through. Miss Croad was a tenth of a second outside the minute barrier at Hamilton, but needs to be half a second under the magical minute if she is to qualify for Brisbane. She has been training hard in Wellington with Dave

Henderson’s squad and has the temperament and ability to achieve her target. Miss Hesketh was strangely out of form at the national championships in March, but at the Hamilton time trials recorded a personal best for the 400 m medley of smin B.os. That was a seven second improvement on her time at the nationals and just three seconds outside the qualifying time for Brisbane. Miss Mahon will be pleased to have the opposition of Miss Dewar in the women’s breaststroke events. Miss Mahon needs only a 0.4 s improvement to reach the interim qualifying time for

100 m breaststroke of Imin 17.35, and a 1.2 s improvement to reach the automatic selection time of Imin 16.55. The Hawke’s Bay backstroke twins, Misses Clarke and Hay, have a difficult assignment. They will have to improve about a second and a half each to achieve the qualifying time of 100 m backstroke. The absence of Ursula Cross from Auckland and Melanie Jones from Canterbury will not help their cause. Miss Jones and her Wharenui club-mate, Grant Forbes, already named in the Commonwealth Games team, are swimming in a sponsored

carnival in Auckland this week-end at the invitation of the Mt Roskill club. Brett Austin, Michael Davidson and Miss Cross, three of the six swimmers who were rejected by the Games selectors, will also swim in the carnival. However, any times they swim, unless they are spectacular, are not likely to be considered by the Games selectors because the carnival is a short-course pool. The selectors have stipulated they will consider only longcourse times. The Christchurch carnival starts at 5 p.m.