A squad of 14 Gunnedah swimmers  will contest the NSW Speedo Sprint finals in Sydney on Saturday, March 12 after qualifying at the recent heats in Gunnedah.

Swimming Gunnedah hosted the heats prior to the New England and North West championships with 177 competitors nominating for the popular event, where the first four places qualify for the preliminary finals at Sydney Olympic Park.

Competitors from eight to 13-years-old race in four 50-metre events only. 

Representing Gunnedah in the eight-years division will be Camden Many, who finished second in breaststroke and third in fly, freestyle and backstroke. 

Nine-year-old Hannah Akinyemi made a clean sweep of the events at Gunnedah and will compete in fly, freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke, while her older brother Zach Akinyemi faced strong opposition in the 12-years events finishing second in fly, freestyle and breaststroke. 

Josh Spinks (9) won the 50m freestyle 50 freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke and came second in fly, while team mate Liam Smith (9) will also represent in four strokes after finishing third in fly, freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke.

Alexis Whitton, Molly Ramien and Matilda Denovan dominated the 10-years division, with Alexis winning freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke and finishing second to Molly in fly, with Molly a close second in freestyle and backstroke and third in breaststroke.  Matilda placed third in fly, freestyle, and backstroke and second in breaststroke. 

Eleven-year-old Jacob Smith claimed first place in fly, freestyle, and backstroke and was just edged out of the gold medal in breaststroke by training mate Baxter Knapman (11) who will also compete in freestyle and backstroke.

Cooper Whitton (12) will contest two events after winning the backstroke and finishing fourth in freestyle, with Audrey Hannaford grabbing second place in the 12-years fly and backstroke and a close fourth in breaststroke.

Tahlia Smith (13) left her follow competitors in her wake with gold medal performances in all four events, while Lachlan Davey (13) placed third in fly and breaststroke and will also contest the backstroke after finishing fourth.

These swimmers did not make it to the finals but put in a strong effort and came away with some great personal best times: Tahni Bush, Lachlan Gurney, William Jansen, Danika Jones, Shiloh Moore, Chelsea and Gareth Rossler, Cameron Sills, Katie Spinks and Tahnee Steele. 
 

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