Gunnedah swimmers stand out at Armidale

Swimming Gunnedah produced several New England North West (NENW) champions after a hugely successful meet in Armidale last weekend.

The squad broke four area records at the NENW Area Championships and collected a huge medal haul along with personal best (PB) times for NSW state and country.

The two-day competition was held in conjunction with the NENW Speedo Sprint heats, where the top four in all 50m strokes across each age group qualify to compete at next month’s finals at Homebush.

Gunnedah swimmers who placed in the top four included Lukas Burden, Darci and Macey Dalessandro, Banjo and Jimmy Fitzgerald, Eugenie Goddard, Jake Hausfeld, Lewis Mainey, Nathan Reeves, Shaun Reeves, Aiden Sills, Cameron Sills, Marsel Tikhonskiy, Pippa Wark, Myles and Quade Young.

Meanwhile, Gunnedah dominated at the NENW Championships while fielding the largest number of competitors (23).

Area records fell to eight-year-old Jimmy in the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley, Aiden (8) in the 100m breaststroke and the Under 10 medley relay team of Aiden, Banjo, Wyatt Shorter and Belle Nichols.

In senior ranks, Tahnee Steele (15) collected gold in the 50m and 100m backstroke, along with two silver and a bronze. Jessica Broadhead (14) swam to six gold, three silver and two bronze while Will Jansen, also 14, snatched five gold and five silver.

Eugenie Goddard nailed gold in the 50m and 100m freestyle as well as four silver and two bronze, while Marsel (12) came away with three gold, two silver and three bronze.

In the hotly contested 10-11 years boys division, Cameron (11) collected a swag of 10 gold, one silver and one bronze. Nathan (11) won one silver and three bronze, and Quade (11) snatched a gold in the 100m backstroke along with seven silver and three bronze.

Banjo (10) brought home nine gold medals and one bronze. Wyatt picked up four gold, three silver and a bronze, while Lewis swam to seven silver medals and one bronze. Lukas won a bronze in the 50m backstroke.

Belle (9) snatched nine gold medals, while Pippa (10) collected five silver. Jorja Burden (12) won one gold, a silver and a bronze while the Dalessandro sisters continued their form with Macey (11) clinching one gold, three silver and a bronze from a massive 11 events. Darci (9) picked up three silver and a bronze, and Jess (7) ensured her only event counted as she won gold in the 50m freestyle.

Jimmy and Aiden wrote their names in the history books with their three records. Jimmy cruised home with six gold and two silver, while Aiden won two gold and three silver.

Myles collected a gold, a silver and two bronze.