Mount Maunganui's champion surf lifesavers have created more history, taking their club to the national pool rescue title in Auckland over the weekend.

Mount won the Paul Kent Memorial Trophy for the first time, dominating the three-day carnival and finishing with 127 points – some 40 points clear of second-placed Mairangi Bay, with defending champions Papamoa third on 81.

The Alan Gardner Trophy (left) and the Paul Kent Memorial Trophy are together for the first time, having been won by the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service. Photo: Glenn Bradley.

The tournament tests the swimming and pool-rescue skills of nearly 600 athletes from 33 New Zealand clubs.

Their triumph comes just seven months after Mount's incredible win at the beach nationals in Gisborne, where they stormed to their third consecutive overall points win and held aloft the Alan Gardner Trophy for the sixth time in the past nine years.

Their weekend win meant they were the first club in history to hold both the beach and pool-based national titles, and coach John Bryant was understandably jubilant.

"This is a really proud moment for the club and a pretty sweet moment in my coaching career," John says.

"To have those two trophies sitting side-by-side in the clubroom is unheard of and it's something all of our athletes can cherish.

'It shows them just what can be achieved with hard work and it's pretty reassuring to the general public that their beaches are patrolled by some of the best in the business."

Young and old contributed to the win, with 14-year-old Lochlainn O'Connor picking up 10 medals - five gold and five silver – and national records in the 100m rescue medley, 50m swim with fins and 4x25m manikin relay.

His 16-year-old teammate, Libby Bradley, also nabbed a New Zealand record in the 100m rescue medley, with her 1.19.69 time taking nearly two seconds off the old mark.

She also added gold in the 200 obstacles swim and bronze in the 50 manikin carry and 100 manikin carry with fins.

A big contingent of Mount masters athletes also won plaudits for their poolside efforts, keeping the competition on schedule by helping with safety and logistics.

Libby, a star age-group swimmer for the Greerton Swim Club, says the Mount team spirit provided an amazing lift throughout the weekend.

"It was great to come out of the pool and be greeted by excited and supporting teammates," she says. "It really added to the buzz."

Lochlainn, meanwhile, is excited to get the chance to take his pool form onto the sand for the upcoming season.

"One of my favourite sayings is 'hard work always pays off', and there was certainly a lot of hard work going into the weekend from the whole squad," Lochlainn says.

"It's great to see it paying off and now we're keen to work equally hard on the beach this summer."

His performances over the weekend have also seen Lochlainn added to the New Zealand Youth Squad, alongside Oscar Williams (Whangamata), Jenna Barrett (New Plymouth Old Boys), Alaynah Bettany (Lyall Bay) and Jessica Blakeman (Midway).

Papamoa's Jacob Hales was added to the New Zealand open squad after a strong performance in the under-19 age group.