Meg Sycamore made a golden start to the Otago championships at Moana Pool yesterday.
The Neptune swimmer won the girls' 13-14 years 50m breaststroke, 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle.
Sycamore (14) won the 200m individual medley in 2min 35.65sec, almost 4sec clear of second-placed Jessica Scott, of Kiwi, but had to work harder in her other two races of the morning session.
She faced a strong challenge from Ella-Rose Lawrence (14), of Clutha United, in the 50m freestyle, but beat her to the wall by 0.20sec to record a time of 29.35sec.
Her win in the 50m breaststroke was in 37.56sec. Molly Woodham (13), of Queenstown, was half a second back in second.
Sycamore's winning time was the second-fastest time across all age groups, with only Devon Familton (16), of Neptune, notching a faster time.
She won the women's 15-16 years race in 36.82sec, while Neptune's Saskia Turner (18) won the women's 17 and over race in 38.57sec.
Kate Godfrey (22), of Neptune, recorded the fastest times in the women's 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle.
She clocked 2min 27.08sec on her way to winning the women's 17 and over 200m individual medley, before winning the 50m freestyle in 28.28sec shortly afterwards.
Caitlin Deans (16), who won the girls' 15-16 years 200m individual medley in 2min 29.79sec and the 50m freestyle in 28.74sec, was the second-fastest female Otago swimmer behind Godfrey across all age groups.
Courtland Ellis (16) also made a good start to the championships. He won the men's 15-16 years 50m freestyle (25.46sec) and 200m individual medley (2min 13.22sec).
His winning time in the individual medley was the fastest across all age groups, while his freestyle time was just 0.02sec slower than Jeremy Hopkins (17), who won the 17 and over race.
Ellis also fell agonisingly short of winning the men's 15-16 years 50m breaststroke when Zenith's Tame Govaerts (16) pipped him by 0.02sec, in a time of 31.29sec.
Kou Kitahara (14) also recorded a pair of wins yesterday. He won the boys' 13-14 years 50m breaststroke (35.94sec) and 200m individual medley (2min 26.43sec).
The Canterbury championships are being held at Moana Pool in conjunction with the Otago championships.
The top eight swimmers from any age group or region competed in the evening session last night, with prize money - $25 for first, $15 for second and $10 for third - at stake.
Age-group finals consisting of swimmers from both regions were also held.
The championships continue this morning from 8.30am and wrap up about noon on Sunday.
