Local swimmers doing well at c’ships: Wells

By ISAAC LIRI
DESPITE not winning any medals, PNG Swimming president Elizabeth Wells was pleased with the general performance of all her swimmers on day two of the Oceania championships at the Taurama Aquatic Centre.
Out of all eight events which Team PNG took part in yesterday, 18-year-old Leonard Kalate swam a personal best in the men’s 100m breaststroke with a time of 1.07.32 claiming a silver medal in the island medal category behind Hawai’s Jaek Horner, who won gold in the island medal, clocking a time of 1.06.01.
PNG’s Sam Seghers showed remarkable talent in the pool in the men’s 100m freestyle B final clocking a personal best timing of 52.28 unfortunately it was not a qualifying time as the particular event was dominated by New Zealand (gold), Hawai (silver) and Australia (bronze) who swam in the A final.
Young Rehema Kalate, 14, in her first Oceania Championships was impressive as well, clocking a personal best of 1.26.14 in the 100m women’s breaststroke.
In the women’s 50m backstroke, Britney Murray finished 8th in the A final with a time of 33.04 which for the men’s 50m backstroke, Livingston Aika and Josh Tarere competed in the B final.
Aika finished first with a personal best of 29.61 while Tarere clocked in 30.73 but both missed out on the island medals.
Other swimmers that missed out were Georgia-Leigh Vele, who competed in the B final of the women’s 100m freestyle finishing sixth with a time of 1.05.98 and Derek Oates in the men’s 100m breaststroke, who finished sixth as well with a time of 1.12.85.
As expected, the relays were dominated by Australia and New Zealand with a little bit of spark by Fiji, who finished third with a bronze in the mixed 4×50 medley.
PNG finished sixth in a time of 1.59.75. In the men’s 4x200m, PNG finished fifth with a time of 8.47.27.
“They’ve been performing at a higher level now. They’re raising standards and they’re doing personal bests at home and this is what we want to see now,” Wells said.
“They are competing against some of the top swimmers of our region so they’re doing really well and I’ m happy.
“These are our development swimmers that are coming through and they are raising their standards now for next year’s Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa.
“Most of our swimmers here in PNG haven’t experienced international competition such as this so with the way they’re going were satisfied.”
Wells said one of PNG’s prominent swimmers Ryan Maskelyne was busy with university in Australia and was not available but would be part of the team for the next year’s Pacific Games.