Smashing start to season for swimmers

SWIMMING Gunnedah is off to a smashing start to the winter short course season following a hugely successful meet at Woy Woy on Sunday.

Three club records were broken, a massive 27 NSW Country qualifying times were achieved, and the club posted more than 50 personal best times at the Kincumber Pacific Dolphins carnival.

It was a highly competitive first hit-out for the club with 17 swimmers lining up on the blocks to compete against strong clubs from Sydney, the Hunter Valley, and North and Central coasts.

The club came away with two gold medals, nine silver and four bronze with both junior and seniors competing in a total of 93 events.

Twelve-year-old Macey Dalessandro blitzed her first short course meet of the season, posting seven best times from seven races. She also broke two club records, including the long-standing 12 years girls 50m breaststroke record held by Emma Donaldson since 2008. Macey clocked a time of 38.81 to topple Donaldson’s record of 40.39. She also snatched Alexis Whitton’s 200m breaststroke record with a time of 3.06.96. Clubmate Tayla Thompson entered the record books as well for the 13 years girls 200m breaststroke after breaking Tahlia Smith’s club record with a time of 3:06.18. Thompson also snagged a new record at the recent Orange short course winter carnival to break Whitton’s 13 years girls 100m Individual Medley record.

It was fast and furious in the 50m freestyle races with Dana Campbell (17) dropping to a 28.20, while training partner Tahnee Steele (16) snagged a personal best time of 28.74. Tayla cracked the 30-second barrier with a 29.99 while Macey hit 30 seconds. Georgia Abra (11) collected a silver medal in the 100m butterfly and three bronze, Dana came away with one bronze in the 100m backstroke, while Darci (10) and sister Jess (8) Dalessandro won a silver each.

Older sister Macey added gold in the 50m breaststroke to her list of achievements and bagged four silvers. She also sliced 15 seconds off her 100m breaststroke and 22 seconds off her 200m time. The Reeves brothers contributed to the club’s medal haul with Nathan (12) winning gold in the 200m freestyle and two silvers in the 50m and 100m breaststroke where he dropped 15 seconds, while Shaun (10) posted three best times.

Both Tahnee and Tayla Thompson bagged four personal bests, while the three other Thompson siblings posted some pleasing results: Ayden (10) dropped time in four events, Nayte (11) picked up a bronze in the 100m breaststroke and Riley (14) posted six personal bests from six races.

The Duncan siblings – Bridgette, Haylea and Noah – gained some great racing experience and posted new short course times. Marsel Tikhonskiy (13) clocked a 29.42 to personal best in his 50m freestyle and making his debut for Gunnedah was Edmund Sebastian Saragih (12), who finished in the top 10 in four races.