“I liked how this race went from start to finish. It was good to get the results I was after,” English said.

Ariel Muchirahondo, 15, from John Paul College broke the 200m butterfly record at the Waikato champs on July 8.

Achieving a time of 2m 02.33s, Withington told the Rotorua Daily Post the record for this aged category had not been broken since 2007 when it was set to 2m 03.08s.

Muchirahondo also broke his own record during last month’s New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships in Auckland.

Muchirahondo said the 400m freestyle race was a highlight for him. “[It was] my first 400 freestyle for a while and I made some big drops off my converted time”.

Earlier this year, Muchirahondo won gold in eight individual events during the National Age Group Championships.

Withington said both boys were building up to compete at the Swimming New Zealand Short Course Championships, coming up in Auckland from 20-24 August.

Withington said this was considered “an open meet for the best swimmers around the country, 13 and over”.

Withington said both boys deserve top placements because they work “really hard”.

“They should be going faster [by then] … they are breaking New Zealand records and are on the pathway to go to the Olympics in four years.

“I know that that is what their aspirations are, they’re both very diligent. It’s not just what they do in the water. They’re doing a lot of things outside as well.

“They run, they cycle, like to fit in with the swim training, you know, and the gym work.

“They’ve got the power of choice at the end of the day – they choose to lift everything up to that next kind of level,” Withington said.

Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty.