2022 SA Country Swimming Championships Renmark

23 swimmers from West Coast Swimming Club participated in the 2022 SA Country Swimming Championships hosted in Renmark from the 6th - 9th of January. Overall, the team placed 4th with a total of 676.5 points. The Barossa Swimming Club was named overall Country Champion team this year.  
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The event commenced with the ‘Superfish’ competition allowing swimmers 11 and under the opportunity to experience a championship atmosphere. Simmy Larwood (9) smashed out her 50m Butterfly, finishing first in a time of 48.15. Dustin Siviour (9) saw his best performance in the 50m Breastroke with a personal best time to finish second (53.85). Jacob Wood (10) swam well in all 4 strokes finishing 5th in the 50m Butterfly (1.03.87) and 6th in the 50m Freestyle (46.78). Neve Thomas (10) recorded two personal best times; one in the 50m Backstroke (1.03.60) and the other in the 50m Breastroke (1.01.36). Tyrell Nemeth-Ford (10) had one event in the 50m Breastroke finishing second (53.07).

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Rear : Team Manager - Sonia Ford, Dana Hurrell, Bryce Hammond, Jamie Ford, Simone Morgan, Coach - Grant Muller, Elke Thomas, Rebecca Wood, Teah Giles. Second Row : Cohbin Oestmann, Tahni Kelsh, Sharni Blacker, Lucy Siviour, Adler Larwood, Tori Siviour, Nicola Morgan, Kylie Hurrell, Kye Oestmann, Braden Holley. Front Row : Jacob Wood, Romey Larwood, Dustin Siviour, Neve Thomas, Simmy Larwood, Tyrell Nemeth-Ford, Darcy Kelsh, Jade Blacker. Image courtesy of Getsnapt.

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Congratulations to Tahni Kelsh (13) who secured her fourth Australian Age Qualifying time, this time in the 50m Freestyle. Tahni has now successfully qualified to swim both the 50m and 100m Freestyle, as well as the 50m and 100m Backstroke at the Australian Age Swimming Championships scheduled for April 2022 in Adelaide. Tahni was named SA Country Champion in 6 individual events, including the 50m Freestyle (29.20), 100m Freestyle (1.03.72), 50m Backstroke (33.76), 100m Backstroke (1.14.16), 50m Butterfly (31.72) and 100m Butterfly (1.10.64). Tahni also received the Silver medal in the 13/14 years 200m Freestyle (2.21.88) and Bronze in the 13/14 years 200m Individual Medley (2.41.87), Open 200m Backstroke (2.42.06) and Open 100m Backstroke (1.13.73). Tahni is a member of the ‘Junior Flippers Squad’ - one of Swimming South Australia’s targeted development programs for talented age group athletes. 

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Simmy Larwood - 50m Butterfly

Neve Thomas - 50m Freestyle

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Bryce Hammond (14) swam exceptionally well and secured the title of SA Country Champion in four individual age group events, including the 50m Freestyle (26.64), 50m Butterfly (28.33), 50m Backstroke (30.85) and 200m Individual Medley (2.34.20). Bryce also medalled in the 13/14 years 100m Backstroke (Bronze - 1.08.45) and 50m Breastroke (Silver - 35.20). An extremely talented sportsperson in both Hockey and Cricket, Bryce is headed to school in Adelaide in 2022 to enable closer access to training, development, and competition opportunities.
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Cohbin Oestmann (13) produced some huge personal improvements throughout the 3 days of racing. He was named SA Country Champion in the 12/13 years 400m Individual Medley which he completed in a 14 second personal best time of 6.04.56. He also medalled in the 400m Freestyle (Silver - 5.25.70) and the 13 year old 50m Backstroke (Silver - 35.19). Cohbin demonstrated extraordinary resilience throughout this meet, swimming in both the open and age group relays on top of his individual race program. 

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Braden Holley, Kye Oestmann, Cohbin Oestmann

Jade Blacker, Elke Thomas, Teah Giles

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Kylie Hurrell, Simone Morgan, Rebecca Wood

Adler Larwood, Lucy Siviour, Sharni Blacker and Tori Siviour

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Kylie Hurrell (17) was the team’s second highest overall point scorer. Her determination and fierce competitiveness saw her awarded Silver in the 16/17 years 100m Breastroke (1.23.06) and 50m Breastroke (37.54). With a 13 second personal best performance, she took out Bronze in the 400m Individual Medley (6.00.28) as well.
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Dana Hurrell (19) posted some very strong results and personal best performances. She was awarded the Silver medal in both the women’s 18 and over 100m Breastroke (1.24.02) and 50m Breastroke (37.41). Dana also recorded an excellent 400m Freestyle time, dropping over 11 seconds from her previous best (5.38.08). Also seeing some great improvements over middle distance events was Rebecca Wood (14). She knocked 15 seconds from her 400m Freestyle (5.37.99), close to six seconds from her 200m Freestyle (2.41.27) and 1.59 seconds from her 200m Individual Medley (2.58.51). Teah Giles (14) is another athlete who is well suited to middle and longer distance events. Teah improved her 200m Individual Medley by 13.81 seconds (3.06.42), her 200m Freestyle by 11.56 seconds (2.51.37). 

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Romey Larwood, Nicola Morgan, Tahni Kelsh

Tyrell Nemeth-Ford, Jamie Ford

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Kylie Hurrell (100m Breastroke)

Jamie Ford (100m Butterfly)

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Attending her first Country Championships, Romey Larwood (11) made finals in 2 of her individual events. She went in 7th fastest qualifier in the 11 and Under 100m Backstroke and finished the race in 5th (1.27.81). She also recorded a 5.4 second personal best time in her 100m Butterfly to finish 8th overall. Romey has now secured 7 South Australian State Qualifying times. Nicola Morgan (13) secured a clean sweep of personal bests in all her individual events. Her 100m Backstroke (4.89) was 4.89 seconds better than her previous best and her 100m Butterfly (1.27.89) was a 3.52 second improvement.

Swimmers who progress through to the top 8 age group swimmers after the morning heats have the opportunity to contest the evening age group finals.  Tyrell Nemeth-Ford (10) raced solidly over the competition securing numerous age group final berths in the 11 and under age group. Tyrell was awarded the Bronze medal in both the 100m Freestyle (1.15.34) and 100m Butterfly (1.41.48) in his first Championship event.
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Jamie Ford (18) enjoyed her return to racing and was consistently able to swim faster finals than her morning qualifying heats. She was awarded the Bronze medal in the 18 and over 100m Butterfly (1.18.74). 

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Dustin Siviour (50m Breastroke)

Adler Larwood (100m Breastroke)

Dustin Siviour, Tyrell Nemeth-Ford, Darcy Kelsh, Jacob Wood

Bryce Hammond (50m Freestyle)

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Kye Oestmann (14) made age group finals in Breastroke, winning Bronze in the 50m Breastroke (37.05) and finishing 7th in the 100m Breastroke (1.25.81). Kye was a key member of West Coast’s open men’s relay team and is to be commended for his consistency and effort in these events. Braden Holley (13) had some fantastic personal best swims throughout the event. He swam a trio of personal bests in his Freestyle events recording 32.49 in the 50m event, 1.12.66 in the 100m and 2.36.33 in the 200m Freestyle. Braden had his highest age group ranking in the 100m Backstroke finishing 7th in the final (1.24.60).
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Club Captain Simone Morgan (16) made it through to 5 age group finals. She has worked hard in the lead up to the competition and reaped the rewards of her sustained efforts. Her best performance was in the 50m butterfly finishing 6th in a time of 35.72. She also placed 6th in the 50m Backstroke (40.55). Adler Larwood (13) had a great 200m Freestyle wiping 7.80 seconds from her time to record a 2.50.75. She raced well in both her 100m Breastroke (1.47.04) and Backstroke (1.34.77) and made personal best times in both races. Teammate Elke Thomas (13) qualified in both the 50m and 100m Breastroke. She recorded a personal best performance in the 100m event (1.40.49). 

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Tyrell Nemeth-Ford (100m Breastroke)

Women's 4 x 50m Medley Relay; Bronze Medalists Jamie Ford, Tahni Kelsh, Kylie Hurrell, Dana Hurrell.

Cohbin Oestmann (Gold 400m Individual Medley, Kylie Hurrell (Silver 400m Individual Medley)

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Jade Blacker (15) made the qualification standard for the 200m Freestyle and recorded a time of 3.01.33. Sharni Blacker (15) swam three individual events and recorded personal bests in each of them. She recorded a 2.50.58 in the 200m Freestyle, 40.12 in the 50m Backstroke and an almost 4 second improvement in her 100m Freestyle (1.13.91). Lucy Siviour (13) also qualified to race three individual events; swimming her 100m Breastroke in a 1.45.64, her 200m Individual Medley in a close to personal best of 3.22.52 and her 50m Breastroke in 47.89 seconds. Tori Siviour (13) had an identical program recording a 1.41.90 in her 100m Breastroke, a 3.17.29 in her 200m Individual Medley and a 46.90 in her 50m Breastroke.

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Braden Holley (100m Breastroke)

Girls 14U 4 x 50m Medley Relay Bronze Medalists; Nicola Morgan, Rebecca Wood, Adler Larwood, Tahni Kelsh

Dana Hurrell (400m Freestyle)

Boys 14U 4 x 50m Medley Relay Silver Medalists; Kye Oestmann, Bryce Hammond, Braden Holley, Cohbin Oestmann

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The club would like to acknowledge the support offered to the team by Grant Muller who was present as the team coach to support warm ups, provide race feedback and counsel swimmers on their race plan.

Next years championships will be hosted in Mount Gambier with the local council part way through construction of the region’s $57.3 million dollar Aquatic and Recreation Hub due to be opened in 2022. The facility has been part funded by $15 million of Federal Government and $10 million of State Government money. 

Mount Gambier recreation centre redevelopment