Medals for Gunnedah swimmers at NSW Country titles

Gunnedah swimmers Cameron Sills and Josh Spinks have landed on the podium at the NSW Country Short Course Championships held in Homebush on the weekend.

Young Cameron snatched his first Country gold in the 50m breaststroke to take the honourable title, while also capturing a silver in the 100m butterfly and bronze in the 50m butterfly.

The talented 10-year-old swam eight races and clocked eight personal best times, along with a Gunnedah club record in his gold-medal winning 50m breaststroke swim.

The youngster touched the wall in 41.22 seconds to shave 3.15 seconds off his best time and snatch Josh Spinks’ record of 41.76 seconds. His biggest improvement came in the 100m butterfly where he dropped 11.67 seconds to take the silver, while he also improved in his 50m butterfly bagging bronze.

Cameron missed a medal by a fingernail in the 50m freestyle where he stopped the clock at 31.64 to finish fourth, a split second behind the third placed who clocked 31.63. He also dropped three seconds in the 100m individual medley to swim into a close fourth place. Cameron also nailed top 10 finalist ribbons in the 200m individual medley (5th), the 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke (6th).

NSW Country Champion Cameron Sills won gold, silver and a bronze at NSW Country.

Twelve-year-old Josh Spinks qualified for 14 races which is an achievement in itself. He collected a silver medal in his second race of the meet for the 200m individual medley with an impressive time of 2:35.17. It also scored him a Gunnedah club record previously held by Jacob Smith, slashing more than seven seconds from the mark (2:42.41).

Josh finished in the final top 10 in the 100m butterfly (5th), 200m freestyle (7th), 100m individual medley (6th) and 400m freestyle (4th), eclipsing club records belonging to Jacob Smith.

The speedster bagged a finalist ribbon in the 100m breaststroke (9th), 50m breaststroke (7th), 100m backstroke (9th) before having to pull out of the meet due to illness. His 400m freestyle was his last race where he dropped almost nine seconds to touch in 4:51.00.

Josh Spinks with his silver Country medal and finalist ribbons in Sydney on the weekend.

Alexis Whitton moved up an age group to compete in the 13-14 years girls’ division, where she placed a creditable sixth place in the 50m freestyle and was the second fastest 13-year-old to touch the wall in a time of 27.49. She broke her own club record of 28.06 seconds before going on to finish eighth in the 100m freestyle where she took Tahlia Smith’s club record in a time of 1:01.05. Lexi also bagged records in the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke that belonged to team-mate Audrey Hannaford.

Also competing in the 13-14 years age group, Sophie Rindfleish clocked personal best times in the 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly after qualifying for five races, while Matilda Denovan lined up for six races and improved in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and butterfly where she clocked a best time of 36.60. Brother Rafe Denovan (10) dropped time to improve in his 50m breaststroke race, while Katie Spinks (14) shaved 0.88 seconds off her 50m butterfly.

In the 11 years girls’ division, Hannah Akinyemi threw down a personal best time in the 50m breaststroke as part of her four-race program, while brother Zach (14) gained more racing experience in the 50m butterfly.