Gunnedah swimmers were in action at Scully Park 360 carnival and a meet at Dubbo over the weekend with club records continuing to fall under the guidance of coach John Hickey.
A squad of 21 competitors from Swimming Gunnedah achieved great results at Tamworth with the carnival starting on Friday night and through the whole of Saturday.
Ten-year-old Josh Spinks stripped 15 seconds from a long-standing club record for 200m butterfly, stopping the clock at 3:37.85 to claim the record of 3:52.34 set by Adam Loveridge on February 26, 1991. Along the way the promising youngster won seven gold medals with strong wins in the 200m medley, 50m and 100m freestyle, backstroke and fly, two silver and a bronze. Club records also fell to Molly Ramien and Jacob Smith, with ten-year-old Molly claiming a club butterfly record of 36.10 seconds set 43 years ago by Tabitha Andriunas on November 1, 1979 – Molly flew up the pool at Scully in 35.57 seconds. She also broke Penny Stove’s 1998 400m freestyle record of 6:10.88 by 38 seconds, with a time of 5:32.99. This is the third club record of Tabitha’s that Molly has broken.
In her swag at the end of the day Molly had nine gold medals – 200m medley, 50m and 100m freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and fly, with four improved times. Jacob Smith continues to add his name to the record books, with two more outstanding club records claimed at the weekend. The speedster shattered William Lightfoot’s club record for 50m fly (31.03) set by William Lightfoot (31.48), on March 21,1993, also James Clift’s 100m breaststroke record set in 2006, as well as his own club records for the 50m freestyle, 200m breaststroke and 50m and 200m backstroke. Jacob showed the opposition a clean pair of heels in nine events – 200m medley, 50m and 100m freestyle, backstroke, fly and breaststroke – plus two silver and a bronze and six personal best times. Twelve-year-old Baxter Knapman competed in 14 races – at Scully and was strong in the long-distance events, winning silver medals in the 200m medley, 50m and 100m freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and 100m fly and one bronze, with an improvement of nine seconds in the 400m freestyle. Jule Huhn (16) won silver in the 100 freestyle and 800 freestyle, while 15-year-old Alex Thompson picked up gold in the 50m and 100m freestyle, breaststroke and 50m fly, with an improvement of 2.77 seconds. The talented teen also finished third in the 50m backstroke. Club mates Alexis Whitton and Eugenie Goddard had a blitz in the 11 years events, with seven gold medals for Alexis (200m medley, 50m and 100m freestyle and breaststroke, and 50m backstroke and fly) and a bronze. Alexis registered six personal best times including a massive 17.70-seconds improvement in the 200m breaststroke. Eugenie Goddard swam into first place in the 100m fly clipping 1.51 seconds from her entry time, also picking up silvers in the 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and fly. Tahlia Smith (14) won gold in the 50m and 100m backstroke, silver in the 50m freestyle and fly, and two bronze medals, while Audrey Hannaford (13) nailed silver in the 50m fly, backstroke, freestyle and 100m backstroke plus two bronze and registered six personal best times.
Talented all-rounder Katie Spinks (12) swam into second place in the 50m fly and breaststroke, and recorded four improved times, including an improvement of 7.82 seconds in the 100m freestyle.
Tahnee Steele (12) put in a strong effort with an improved time in the 50m backstroke, just missing a medal with fourth place in the 50m fly.
Also competing in the age group, Shiloh Moore shaved 2.89 seconds from her best to grab third place in the 50m fly, and just missed a medal in the 100m backstroke.
The club’s juniors are steadily climbing the ladder, with Camden Many (9) winning four events -50m fly, breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle, while little brother Fletcher (7) won gold in the 25m backstroke and silver in 25m freestyle. Ten-year-old Liam Smith picked up silver medals in the 50m freestyle and 100m fly, while eight-year-old Wyatt Shorter registered big improvements in every one of his six races, with gold in the 50m fly and freestyle, and silver in the 50m backstroke and a personal victory in the 100m freestyle after stripping 9.67 from his entry time.
Cooper Whitton (12) won silver in the 50m fly, and swam strongly for third place in the 200m medley, where he slashed 12.87 seconds from his best, also finishing third in the 100m freestyle, 50m breaststroke, 100m fly and 50m backstroke, while tiny tot Madelyn Whitton won medals at her second ever carnival – silver in the 25m backstroke with a six-second improvement and bronze in the 25m freestyle. Max Smith (8) won gold in 50m backstroke and silver in the 50m fly with a seven-second improvement; he also grabbed bronze in the 50m breaststroke.
In the tadpoles’ division, Jimmy Loveridge (7) won the 25m breaststroke and freestyle and swam into second place in the 25m breast and 25m fly, where he improved his time by 5.35 seconds.
Dubbo Swimtech carnival. Four swimmers held the Gunnedah flag high at the Dubbo Swimtech carnival on Sunday, with the rapidly improving Hannah Akinyemi (10) winning nine events – 200m individual medley, 50m and 100m freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and fly. Along the way Hannah recorded two personal best times, including an improvement of 4.63 seconds in the 100m backstroke.
Older brother Zach Akinyemi (12) blitzed the field in nine events, with strong wins in the 200m medley, 200m freestyle and 200m fly, 50m and 100m backstroke and fly, 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, with second place in the 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke. Training mate Gareth Rossler (12) came second in the 50m breaststroke and picked up bronze medals in the 50m and 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke. Thirteen-year-old Chelsea Rossler recorded personal best times in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke.
Squad training continues at the Gunnedah Memorial Pool with swimmers training hard to gain qualifying times for state and NSW Country championships.
