Annika Bokor, 29 June 2026
Records and podium finishes highlight Otago Boys’ Otago Secondary School Swimming Championships campaign
The Otago Secondary School Swimming Championships may not be a large meet, but it still delivers plenty of racing, with the region’s top secondary school swimmers going head-to-head.
The meet runs over just a few hours, with swimmers racing multiple events back-to-back, making it tough to produce personal bests.
Otago Boys' had four swimmers competing: Declan Roulston (14), Fletcher McCall (15), Toby Hill (16), and Neo Salomonsson (17). They also combined for the 4 × 100m freestyle relay at the end of the programme.
Declan, the youngest Otago Boys' swimmer at the meet, competed in the 14 & under age group. Coming in off a concussion recovery and dealing with some fatigue, he kept his programme to shorter events: 50m freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke, plus the 100m backstroke.
He still came away with a strong set of results, winning both backstroke events and the 50m breaststroke, and finishing second in the 50m freestyle. His 50m breaststroke stood out, dropping over a second to record 35.91, breaking into the 35-second range for the first time.
Fletch had one of the busier schedules of the day, lining up in six individual events. More known for longer distance and open water racing, he took on the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, but challenged himself with the 50m and 100m butterfly events.
Despite dealing with a lingering cough, he pushed through all his races and picked up solid results across the board. He placed top 10 in five of his six events, including third in the 100m butterfly where he was only one second behind the second placed swimmer. Other results included 4th in the 400m freestyle, 5th in the 200m freestyle, and 6th in the 50m butterfly. His 50m butterfly was a standout swim, knocking around four seconds off his previous best to go 31.57.
Although Toby’s main sport is surf lifesaving events, he has been putting up strong performances in warmer and calmer indoor pool water too. Toby took on the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle events.
With his height, one might assume he would favour the shorter sprint events, but it looks like his surf training has put him in a great position for the longer freestyle events. Toby placed 3rd in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle events, and finished in 7th place in the 50m freestyle. Considering the little rest time between events, Toby did very well in matching his PB times for the 200m and 400m events, and then also produced almost a 1.5 second PB in the 100m freestyle with a time of 59.11, breaking the magical 1 minute barrier for the first time.
In his final Otago Secondary School Championships, Neo opted for a heavy racing programme with quality over quantity, taking on six individual events including the 200m butterfly. His other events included 50 and 100 m butterfly, 100 m individual medley, 50 and freestyle and backstroke.
Neo took home 1st placings in all his events, and broke four Otago school records along the way. These included his own 50m and 100m butterfly records set last year, improving them by 0.5 and 2 seconds respectively, with times of 25.10 and 55.36. He also narrowly broke the 50 backstroke record as well as took off 3 seconds from the 200 fly school record, previously held by Old Boy Daniel Gilbert.
The boys battled hard in the 4 × 50m freestyle relay, but were eventually edged out by a slightly stronger King’s team. Toby gave Otago Boys a strong start and helped build a small early lead. Declan and Fletch swam solidly around their pb times in the two middle legs, while Neo produced a powerful anchor leg, closing the gap by around 2.5 seconds. However, it wasn’t quite enough on the day, with the faster seeded King’s team holding on to win by a narrow margin. Next time boys!
All four boys displayed exemplary behaviour at the pool, showing respect not only toward each other but also toward volunteer officials, parents, and support staff, including myself as their team manager. It was a pleasure to spend a part of Sunday with this group of boys.