Swimmers return from Armidale with medal haul

SWIMMING

Gunnedah swimmers have returned home with a medal haul of 21 gold, 33 silver and 23 bronze at the combined Kootingal Moonbi and Armidale Alligators swim meet on the weekend.

The carnival was held at the TAS indoor pool, where 21 club athletes lined up to race in 121 events against competitors from across the New England North West.

Gunnedah posted around 50 personal best times and added to its list of NSW Country qualifying times in what was another successful meet for the club.

A highlight of the carnival was the medley Skins event, where the fastest 50m freestylers in the 10-and-under, 12-and-under and 13-and-over boys and girls divisions raced in an elimination-style sprint competition. With the roll of a dice, swimmers were given a stroke to race in a 25m sprint, with the slowest in each round eliminated.

With over a minute to recover for each race, Gunnedah swimmers featured strongly in each event.

In the 10-and-under boys and girls divisions, Aiden Sills and Darci Dalessandro snatched the win for Gunnedah to take home $50 each while Cameron Sills took out the 12-and-under boys to win $70.

Also winning cash after placing second were Ayden Thompson (10&U) and Matilda Ramien (12&U) – who had to race a dead-heat swim-off for her mantle – while Jessica Broadhead placed third in the 13-and-over girls.

It was also pleasing for the club to see the return of 18-year-old Alex Thompson, who has come back to competitive racing after more than a year out of the pool. He blitzed his first short-course carnival for the season after throwing down a blistering 27.24-second time in the 50m freestyle. Jessica Broadhead also dropped down into the 28 seconds for her 50m freestyle while Ethan McDonald (10) made his debut for Gunnedah at his first carnival.

The squad will now focus on training for the NSW Country Swimming Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Park early next month.