Katie Kenneally (Neptune) was in dominant form and emerged as the top Otago swimmer and the New Zealand age-group championships in Wellington last week.
Kenneally (17) won five medals - four gold and one silver - at the event.
Two of the gold medals were in her specialist breaststroke events: 100m (1min 11.87sec) and 200m (2min 33.64sec).
She also won the 200m (2min 20.78sec) and 400m (4min 57.58sec) individual medley in the girls aged 17 and 18 grade.
Kenneally was the key member of an Otago team that achieved its best performance for 20 years at an age-group championships and won 31 medals: 12 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze.
She led the onslaught in the final two days of the championship at the weekend when Otago swimmers won 12 medals: five gold, four silver and three bronze.
Kenneally is a member of the Otago Swimming Coaching Academy (Osca) coached by Gennadiy Labara, a hard taskmaster who demands dedication from his swimmers.
Osca swimmers won seven gold medals at the champs.
Cameron McMahon (Neptune) emerged as a new elite swimmer when he won the 50m freestyle (26.86sec) and 400m freestyle (4min 24.78sec) in the boys aged 13 grade.
He also won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle (2min 6.35sec).
Matthew Glassford (Neptune), who shifted to Dunedin from Alexandra nearly five years ago to improve his swimming, was the other gold medallist from the Osca squad.
His gold medal came in the boys aged 17 and 18 200m breaststroke (2min 22.29sec).
He also won a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke (1min 6.85sec) and the 400m individual medley (4min 37.30sec).
The other Otago gold medallists are members of Andy Adair's Waves squad, with the best being Shane Patience (17), who won three gold medals in the boys aged 17 and 18 grade.
Early in the week, he won the 200m butterfly and the 400m freestyle in the boys aged 17 and 18 grade.
On Saturday, he added the 1500m freestyle (15min 38.05sec) to his gold medal haul and a silver medal in the 100m butterfly in 56.31sec.
The other gold medallist from the Waves squad was Stef Gillespie, who won gold medals in the girls aged 13 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle earlier in the week.
Gillespie also added a silver medal in the 400m individual medley and bronze medals in the 200m freestyle and the 200m butterfly.
Otago clubs also performed well, with Neptune finishing sixth with 222 points and Waves eighth with 198 points of the 75 clubs at the championships.
Other Otago swimmers to win medals at the weekend were. -Silver: Rebecca Thom (Neptune), girls aged 14 100m breaststroke 91min 17.98sec).
Bronze: Adam Simpson (Waves), boys aged 16 1500m freestyle (16min 27.45sec); Phoebe Williams (Waves), girls aged 16 200m butterfly (2min 22.95sec).
