Junior National Swimming Champs Report
Co National Coach Richard Goodwin noted a large number of enthusiastic and determined youngsters attended the Sportseller Junior National Swimming Championships held at the BASA pool on Saturday [June 25]. These championships are specifically limited to the 12 and under age groups and essentially feature all of the up and coming swimmers who will be the future leaders in the sport.
There were a multitude of excellent swims, with many new personal bests set by the over one hundred swimmers in attendance.
As the Harbour Swim Club Head Coach, Richard Goodwin noted two new relay records were established in the boy’s 8 and under age group category by the Harbour Swimming Club. In the 100m medley it was the quartet of Finn Moseley, Jack Harvey, Nick Pilgrim and Jack Thorpe, whilst in the 100m freestyle it was Moseley, Thorpe and Harvey joined by Matthew Nagel.
In the individual events, which were limited to three swims; Emma Harvey took 3 first places in the girls 9 and 10 age group, closely followed by Ashley Irby who had 2 firsts and 1 second place finish. Alex Pilgrim also managed 2 firsts and 1 second place in the boy’s 9 and 10 age group. In the older 11 and 12 girl’s age group, Shannon Hassell had 2 firsts and a second, whereas Tyler Smith took 2 firsts and 1 third place in the boy’s.
The Sharks Juniors hard work this year clearly paid off at the Junior Nationals on Saturday. Coach Mimi Smith congratulated the swimmers who for them, this was their first meet. As they continue their hard work in the pool they will see their times drop more and more.
This was the first meet for Isabelle Dutranoit and she swam her way to 2 B times and 1 BB time. Jalen Currin and Matthew Meszoly showed their hard work paid off at this meet by giving it their all.
Coach Jenna Veira was especially proud of her swimmers – Rose Arnott for setting her first time for the 25m backstroke; and Jack Levenson & Oliver Arnott for swimming their first meet and setting a time in the 50m freestyle.
7 junior swimmers earned 3 PB’s in all their events – Holly Bruton, Jalen Currin, Matthew Daly, Logan Henschke, Matthew Meszoly, Elsa Stevenson and Keegan Woolley. With 6 swimmers earning 2 PB’s – Elan Daley, Lucie Gariepy, Jessyka Haak, Freya Kermode, Dairia Smith and Joshua Thorne.
Coach Robert DeSilva noted there was a tremendous effort put forward by everyone. Two of his swimmers came through with 3 PB’s, Charlotte Faries and Gabriella Rosati and 4 of his swimmers picked up 2 PB’s – Paige Bruton, Hannah Marshall, Maddie Moore and Jessie Thomas. There is a special mention for Fiona Young, who competed in her first ever meet and came thru with 3 strong swims and picked up a B time in the process. Robert noted the Junior Championships was a good day for Sharks team as a whole.
Dolphin Swim Coach Elise Cooper commented “The DST Junior worked very hard which resulted in most of the swimmers achieving PBs.” Out of 88 individual swims, there were 46 PBs.
For the older juniors, Mackenzy Cooper set 3 personal bests which included smashing his old 200m IM time by 15.96 seconds. Josh Irvine, reclaimed his BB standard after moving up to the 11-12 age group in the 50m fly by knocking 2.33 seconds off his previous PB from earlier this season.
The younger DST juniors swam exceptionally well. In the 8 and under category, Neil Budge captured the highest points for the boys and Genevieve Lau achieved the highest points for the girls.
DST looks forward to hosting the next and final meet of the season in July.
