Personal best times eclipsed

Gunnedah swimmers have been making a giant splash at carnivals around the region as the long course season moves into full swing.

A squad of 31 competitors hit the pool at the recent Tamworth City and Kootingal-Moonbi meets where it poured personal best times.

After a record-breaking season, nine-year-old Cameron Sills smashed his own 100m butterfly club record slashing 7.26 seconds off the mark touching the wall at 1:34.92. Will Jansen (13) had a cracking carnival to snatch seven best times from seven races with his strongest performance in the 200m individual medley, where he stopped the clock with a 24-second improvement, along with the 100m backstroke and freestyle where he shaved five seconds off his best.

Eugenie Goddard shot up the pool in the 200m breaststroke to beat her best by a whopping 23.42 seconds and clipped almost 10 seconds from her 100m butterfly and breaststroke times. Audrey Hannaford (14) also stepped it up in the 100m fly, improving by 4.76 seconds, while club mate Katie Spinks (13) stormed home with an 11-second best time in the 100m backstroke.

The strongest race of the day for Hannah Akinyemi (11) was the 200m individual medley where she powered to the wall with a 12.46 second improvement, while Liam Smith (11) punched a personal best in the same race to shave almost 20 seconds off the mark. He blitzed the 50m freestyle in a time of 31.50 seconds, while taking six seconds off his 100m freestyle time. Younger brother Max Smith (9) also had a stellar meet with six personal bests from six races, the strongest in the 50m butterfly with an eight-second personal best.

Lewis Mainey nailed his 100m backstroke slicing 13.64 seconds off his entry time, as well as the 200m individual medley to improve by 15 seconds, while brother Darcy (12) dropped 5.95 seconds in the 200m medley.

Rafe Denovan (9) snatched four personal bests with a massive improvement of 14.23 seconds in the 100m freestyle while his brother Campbell took 10 seconds off the mark in the 25m freestyle.

Nine-year-old Banjo Fitzgerald turned in strong swims in the 100m backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke while the Cannon brothers, Archer and Cooper, improved in butterfly and freestyle.

The race of the day for Lukas Burden (9) was his 100m freestyle where he stripped 18.52 seconds from his best, while Jimmy Loveridge posted an improvement of 32 seconds in the 100m freestyle. Junior tadpoles Reggie Stewart (7), Harrison Foran (8), Madelyn Whitton (7) and Aiden Sills all registered improved times.