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Veteran Dean Kent produced a strong performance on the final night of the Pan Pacific Swim Championships in Canada today.

Kent finished seventh in the A final of the 200m individual medley, with the New Zealand medley relay teams finishing fifth (women) and sixth (men) in their finals in Victoria.

There was an impressive dash by backstroker Hannah McLean in the 50m freestyle final as the Kiwi pool contingent wrapped up their meet.

Masterton’s Kirsten Cameron and Auckland’s Kylie Salt compete in the 10km open water swim tomorrow.

Head coach Jan Cameron said the meet was important for the New Zealanders and she was not unduly concerned that they did not earn any medals.

“We did not come here for medals. We knew that most of the squad had limited preparation because they needed a real break after the Commonwealth Games and the world championships,” Cameron said.

“We will not have a significant break now right through to Beijing, so it was very important they had some serious time off. We knew that would affect results at this meet.

“That was exposed because the USA and Japan teams have targeted this meet as their major aim of the year and came straight off their selection trails. It was the strongest Panpacs in my involvement.”

Cameron said that the meet was very important for the New Zealanders.

“It gave us crucial international competition. And all the swimmers know where the benchmark is now as we target the world championships in Melbourne next March and on to Beijing.”

Cameron said she was delighted with the relay swims and the development of some of the young swimmers while several showed their versatility with the likes of Hannah McLean impressing in freestyle and Liz Coster in backstroke.

“We gained a lot from this meet. I am pleased with what we have gained this week. Does that mean we are happy with the outcome? No we’re not and neither are the swimmers.

“We have a long way to go and a lot to do but the team is totally resolute with what they need to do from here in.”

Kent improved on his heat time to clock 2:02.29 in the medley relay final, only a second outside his national record, to complete a solid meet. He was dragged along with the brilliant American Michael Phelps who set a new world record of 1:55.84 to grab gold.

Earlier Helen Norfolk was eighth in the women’s B final with North Shore clubmate Glenn Snyders sixth in the 200m breaststroke B final.

McLean, who has been training in Europe, showed her prowess in freestyle with a superb personal best 26.04s to place third in the B final, only 5/100^th of a second outside the New Zealand record. Liz Coster was seventh in the same race a faction outside her best.

The Kiwi quartet of McLean, Annabelle Carey, Coster and Alison Fitch were fifth in the medley relay in 4:09.28, three seconds outside their national record set in Melbourne. They were given a strong start by McLean who was third after the opening backstroke leg before easing back to fifth.

The new men’s combination of John Zulch, Snyders, Moss Burmester and Corney Swanepoel were sixth in 3:43.52, also three seconds outside the record set in Melbourne with both finals dominated by the USA.

Day 4 finals:
200m individual medley:
Women B final: Helen Noroflk 2:19.97, 8^th.
Men A final: Dean Kent 2:02.29, 7.

50m freestyle:
Women B final: Hannah McLean 26.04, 3; Liz Coster 26.44, 7.

200m breaststroke:
Men B final: Glenn Snyders 2:19.93, 6.

4x100m medley relay:
Women: New Zealand 4:09.28, 5 (McLean 1:01.93, Carey 1:11.47, Coster 1:00.25, Fitch 55.63).
Men: New Zealand 3:40.76, 6 (Zulch 57.91, Snyders 1:01.81, Burmester 53.44, Swanepoel 50.40).