Thirteen swim records broken

By HENRY MORABANG
FOUR long-standing records in the 12-year old age group were among 13 national records to fall over the weekend during the TNT short-course championships at the Lae Coronation School.
The four records set by Lae’s Roxine Arnold 21 years ago in 1991 – were broken by 12-year-old Australian-based swimmer Savannah Tkatchenko.
These records were the 50m backstroke which saw Savannah swim a sizzling 32.56 to the previous record of 34.59.
Savannah stopped the clock in the 200m individual medley in 2:37.22 – the previous record
was 2:38.59.
In the 100m backstroke, Savannah swam 1:11.37, beating Arnold’s time of 1:14.42 and in the 50m butterfly her time of 32.61 saw Arnold’s 33.43 being.
Other records broken by Savannah over the weekend were the 200m backstroke in 2:35.04, eclipsing Namiko Kobayashi’s 2:42.84 set in 1996, 100m individual medley in 1:11.50 erasing Barbara Vali’s in 2008 time of 1:18.47 and the 200m 2:53.44 cutting off Xenia Peni’s 2:58.83 set in 1995.
Guest swimmer, 18-year-old Hope Henley, from the Essendon Club in Victoria, took two long standing PNG Senior All Comers record previously set by Beryl Madouna
set in 1991. 
They were in the 200m backstroke which saw Hope finishing in 2:59.84 – Beryl’s time was 2:37.23 – and in the 200m individual medley recording a time of 2:35.83 to Beryl’s 2:39.46. 
Henley also erased Anna-Liza Mopio Jane’s record of 1:10.09 in the 100m backstroke, with 1:09.88.
Samuel Seghers 17, took his age record, swimming 1:04.32 in the 100m individual medley while 20-year-old Judith Meauri swam into the record books in the 50m butterfly, taking the senior and open record 32.19.
Mopio-Jane held the previous record of 32.58.