Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

Natasha Hind set the tone for the New Zealand team with a superb national record on the opening day of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in California.The event, rated only behind the Olympics and World Championships, involves the swimming powerhouses of USA, Australia, Japan and Canada among others. Hind, 19, went under the two minute mark for the 200m freestyle in the morning team to qualify for the A final clocking 1:59.57. The Wellington swimmer, now based at Swimming New Zealands high performance centre, went a second quicker in the final with her 1:58.80 establishing a new national open record. She was eighth in the final but third among Commonwealth countries, which is a superb boost for upcoming Commonwealth Games. It was a brilliant start for Natasha, said Swimming NZ head coach mark Regan. she has been working very hard and this is a good breakthrough for her. We now have two others around the two minute mark and if we continue to work very hard then we could develop a medal opportunity in the 4x200m relay in Delhi. Wellington teenager Gareth Kean also set a new personal best time of 54.57s in finishing seventh in the A final of the 100m backstroke in just his second time in a major international open meet. Kean was also third ranked in the Commonwealth on this swim and points to his potential. Team-mate Daniel Bell was fifth in the B final in 55.37. Gareth has talented a good leap forward internationally today. Again for our relay hopes this week, where we hope to qualify a mens medley relay for Delhi, then a swim under 55 seconds is important, Regan said. Gareth also now becomes a factor in his own right for the Commonwealth Games. This is an extraordinarily competitive meet, and in fact in some events it is harder than the world championships because countries are allowed more swimmers into the heats. Making a B final here is good news, making A finals is better. Our focus though is on improving our world rankings and our Commonwealth rankings. North Shores Hayley Palmer set a new personal best time of 27.38s to finish third in the B final of the 50m butterfly, an off-stroke for the outstanding freestyler. In other swims Amaka Gessler and Melissa Ingram, swimming her off-stroke, were fifth and sixth respectively in the B final of the 200m freestyle while Emily Thomas was fifth in the B final of the 100m backstroke in a solid 1:01.93. Moss Burmester was seventh in the B final of the 200m butterfly in 1:58.32 but fourth in the Commonwealth rankings. Results, A finals: Womens 200m freestyle: A Schmitt (USA) 1:56.10, 1 (Championship record); M Scroggy (USA) 1:57.13, 2; B Evgans (AUS) 1:57.27, 3. Also: T Hind (NZL) 1:58.80, 8 (NZ record). Mens 100m backstroke: A Peirsol (USA) 53.31, 1 (Championship record); J Koga (JPN) 53.63, 2; A Delaney (AUS) 53.67, 3. Also: Gareth Kean (NZL) 54.57, 7 (PB). Full results: www.swimmingnz.org.nz