The Dunedin Olympian collected bronze in the women’s 1500m freestyle after a tight tussle for second with Eve Thomas at the national championships in Auckland last night.
Deans (Neptune) won bronze in 16min 11.42sec, narrowly behind Thomas (Coast), who won silver in 16min 11.20sec.
Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather won the event in 15min 58.26sec, going under the Commonwealth Games qualifying time.
‘‘I’m really happy with that swim,’’ Fairweather said.
‘‘It’s the second 1500m I’ve swum in a very, very long time. Still getting the feel of the race, but I’m really happy with that today.’’
Dunedin Olympian Kane Follows collected silver in the men’s 200m backstroke in 1min 59.85sec.
Follows (Neptune) led the final through the first 100m before Ariel Muchirahondo (Rotorua) came through the back end strongly to win in 1min 59.07sec, setting a 17-years national record.
Esme Paterson (Neptune) was the fourth Kiwi home in the women’s 100m butterfly in 1min 01.33sec. She was fifth overall.
Olympian Hazel Ouwehand won in 58sec, outside of the Commonwealth Games qualifying time.
The championships wrap up tomorrow.
