Gunnedah swimmers showed grit and determination at the recent NSW Youth State Age Short Course Championships at Homebush, with 11-year-old Cameron Sills storming home to win two bronze medals.
The team of six went up against the best in the state over two days of racing, and competed in 18 individual events across the 10-12 year age group along with two relays.
With head coach Colin Marley in attendance, Cameron was off to a flying start in his first race of the opening day to claim bronze in the 400m freestyle with a sizzling personal best (PB) time of 4.49.70.
With a busy program of 11 events, he backed it up with another podium finish in a cracking 200m freestyle race where he touched third again and slashed more than four seconds off his entry time.
Having been in great form this season, Cameron clocked PBs in nine individual races.
He also mixed it with the best in his age group across all strokes, after clinching top 10 finishes in the 100m individual medley (IM) (sixth), 50m and 100m butterfly (ninth), 50m breaststroke (ninth) and 50m freestyle (10th).
Cameron Sills won two state bronze medals and five top 10 finalist ribbons at the two-day state championships.
Cameron placed a credible 11th in the 100m breaststroke and 12th in the 50m backstroke, and claimed Gunnedah club records in the 200m and 400m freestyle and the 100IM.
After qualifying for two events, Banjo Fitzgerald (11) put in a gutsy performance with PB times in the 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly. He placed eighth in the backstroke, and 12th in the butterfly.
Also in the 11 years division, Wyatt Shorter touched the wall in 16th in the 50m backstroke and blitzed his best time by1.45 seconds.
Wyatt, Cameron and Banjo also qualified for the 4x50m 11-13 years boys freestyle and mixed relays, along with club mate Marsel Tikhonskiy.
With three 11-year-olds and one 12 year-old in the team, the boys did well to even qualify among the 13-year old competitors while also achieving PBs in both races.
In the girls divisions, Tayla Thompson (12) gained great experience at Homebush after qualifying and swimming the 50m backstroke and 100m IM.
Ten-year-old Philipa Wark placed 12th in the 100m butterfly where she dropped 3.70 seconds, and came 13th in the 50m butterfly and 14th in the 100m breaststroke.
Philipa clocked two best times from four individual starts.
Gunnedah placed 31st out of 67 in the overall pointscore; a great result for a small country swim club that will target the upcoming long course season.
