An intense three days of competition in the water saw St Paul’s swimmer Ben Littlejohn come out with four silver medals and one bronze at the 2017 New Zealand Secondary School Championships.
The Year 10 student also gained four top eight finishes.
St Paul’s was represented by seven swimmers at this year’s championships. In addition to Ben’s success, Thomas Griffin (Year 11) had five top eight finishes and the relay teams placed seventh in both the 200m medley and 200m freestyle relays.
“For each swimmer the target was obviously a top eight finish, but gaining a personal best or entry to other national swimming events were also goals to achieve from this event,” says St Paul’s Head of Swimming, Roger Bell.
St Paul’s boy swimmers finished this championship 11th in New Zealand out of the 55 schools that had boys competing. Their ranking in 2016 was 12th.
Over 580 swimmers from around 120 schools competed in the 2017 New Zealand Secondary School Championships, which were held at Hamilton’s Waterworld, September 15-17.
