Gunnedah swimmers achieved an impressive haul of three gold, four silver and four bronze medals at last weekend’s NSW Country Short Course Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC).The team of nine went up against the best of the best outside of Sydney, and collected 23 top-10 finalist finishes along with a remarkable 36 personal best (PB) times.
Gunnedah finished 21st in the overall team tally, featuring 58 clubs from across NSW.
Gunnedah coach Colin Marley said his swimmers performed incredibly over the three days, while also supporting each other poolside.
“They performed really well and the pleasing thing was that the majority of PBs weren’t small,” he said.
“They were exceeding the one second mark in the 50m races and between two and seven seconds in the 100m and over events.”
Cameron Sills had a mammoth program comprising 10 individual events and four relays.
The 11-year-old won gold in the 400m freestyle, silver in the 50m backstroke and bronze in the 100m butterfly and 100m individual medley (IM). He also collected finalist ribbons with a fourth in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle, fifth in the 50m butterfly, 50m and 100m breaststroke, and sixth in the 50m freestyle.
In the nine years girls, Belle Nichols achieved gold in the 50m backstroke and freestyle, silver in the 50m breaststroke, 100m freestyle and IM, and bronze in the 50m butterfly.
Banjo Fitzgerald (11) took home a bronze in the 50m butterfly along with top-10 finishes in the 100m butterfly (fourth), 50m backstroke (fourth) and 50m freestyle (eighth).
Jessica Broadhead (15) collected finalist ribbons in the 100m backstroke (sixth) and the 100m IM (ninth), and Wyatt Shorter (11) placed eighth in the 50m breaststroke.
Pippa Wark (10) came seventh in the 100m butterfly and eighth in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle.
Tayla Thompson (12) achieved five PBs and three top-20 finishes, and Marsel Tikhonskiy (12) improved on his 50m freestyle time while Jimmy Fitzgerald (9) gained great experience at his first Country event with finalist spots in the 50m freestyle (sixth) and 50m butterfly (fifth).
There was excitement in the stands for the Gunnedah 11-12 years boys relay team which included Cameron, Wyatt, Banjo and Marsel.
They blitzed their PB time in the 4×50 medley event to improve by more than nine seconds and finish a creditable seventh. They also clocked seventh in the freestyle relay.
Wyatt and Cameron stepped up to compete in the NAIDOC relays, with Wyatt in the third-placed team and Cameron in the fourth-placed team.
In the club record books, Cameron broke Jacob Smith’s 11 years 400m freestyle club record while Belle shaved time off her 50m backstroke, 50m and 100m freestyle, and 100m IM records.
The squad will now focus on training for the upcoming Gunnedah short course carnival, followed by next month’s New England North West Championships in Inverell.
Gunnedah’s coach said the other focus is on swimmers achieving NSW state age short course times.
Belle Nichols.
Cameron Sills.
Pippa Wark.
Wyatt Shorter.
