Gunnedah squad dominates at Armidale

Gunnedah’s junior swimmers made a splash at the New England North West Swimming Championships in Armidale recently.

Nineteen competitors hit the water at the University of New England to battle it out with the best in the region during the two-day event.

Ten-year-old Cameron Sills led the Area Record tally, snatching four individual records in the 50m freestyle, 200m Individual Medley and the 50m and 100m butterfly. Josh Spinks collected three Area records in the 12 years boys 100m freestyle, 200m Individual Medley and the 50m breaststroke, while Gunnedah’s 10&U mixed medley and freestyle relays also bagged two records.

It was a successful competition for those moving through the junior ranks, with many medals awarded and a huge number of personal best times.

Macey Dalessandro (10) showed huge improvement after clocking 11 best times that led to five gold medals, four silver and a bronze. She shaved more than 10 seconds off her 200m Individual Medley time to swim into first place, while sisters Darci (9) won three gold and two silver and Jessica (6) bagged a gold in the 50m freestyle.

Jorja Burden also shined after collecting seven gold including in the 200m IM where she took 12 seconds off her best time. She also picked up two silvers while brother Lukas won a relay gold.

Sills bagged 11 gold medals and several best times including dropping more than five seconds in the 100m backstroke, while Josh Spinks snatched 10 gold medals along with four silver and a bronze. The 12-year-old showed great improvement in the 800m freestyle, slicing 21 seconds off the mark. Sophie Rindfleish (14) came away with gold in the 50m freestyle and backstroke and the 50m and 100m breaststroke along with a silver, while Katie Spinks, 14, bagged five silver and showed huge gains in the 200m IM with a 10.43 second improvement.

The Young brothers produced some great results, with Quade (11) winning five gold medals with a 6.65 second drop in his 100m freestyle time, and Myles bringing home a gold in the 100m breaststroke – the same event he broke a Gunnedah Club record in at the recent Inter-club meet in Tamworth. The eight-year-old broke Huxley Sheridan’s new record of 2:13.96 in the event, after touching the wall in 2:05.74. Myles also came away with four silver.

Kaylee Allen (11) claimed four gold, two silver and two bronze. Her best time was in the 100m backstroke where she dropped 12.31 seconds. Also 11, Marsel Tikhonskiy earned a silver in the 100m backstroke and three bronze, while Nathan Reeves (10) took home two gold, a silver and a bronze.

Pippa Wark swam into first place in the nine-year-old girls 50m freestyle with a 3.72 personal best time. She collected another gold, two bronze and a silver in the 100m freestyle after shaving 12.80 seconds off her best time.

In the younger ranks, Huxley Sheridan (8) won four gold and two silver medals, while Aiden Sills (7) continues to make gains after clocking three personal best times. He broke his own Gunnedah Club record in the 7 years boys 100m breaststroke with a time of 2:23.07. He had also broken his own record at the recent interclub meet in the same event with a time of 2:26.86. Aiden snatched two bronze in the 50m and 100m freestyle where he improved by 12.50 seconds. Isabel Warmoll (9) showed improvement in her 50m breaststroke while Shaun Reeves (8) made gains in the 50m freestyle.

The 10 and Under Gunnedah mixed relay team broke an Area record that was set by Gunnedah last year. Left, Cameron Sills, Macey Dalessandro, Nathan Reeves and Darci Dalessandro.