It was awesome to see 40 eager West Coast Swimmers take to the water to contest our monthly Point Score Event held at the Port Lincoln Leisure Centre on Friday May 30th. The event schedule included opportunities for first time competitors to attempt 25m events in all 4 strokes, together with 50m events again in all four strokes teamed with a 200m freestyle for those looking to begin incorporating distance events onto their racing schedule. To begin the evening swimmers were provided with a copy of the Junior Excellence benchmarked times together with the State Qualification standards that will be applied at this year's short course and long course championships. These are excellent tools to use in planning your season goals. Many of our swimmers have received either Green, Bronze, Silver or Gold Junior Excellence standards and are looking for the next challenge to secure their country qualifying times and state qualifying times. Each month swimmers who demonstrate a dedicated attitude to training, are supportive of the teams efforts and show improvement towards their swimming goals are rewarded as "Swimmer of the Month." This month nippers squad members Jarrod Scholz and Jessica Mesecke were acknowledged for their willingness to respond to technical stroke feedback, Harrison Adams, Kilani Coleman-Smith, Emma Hamnett and Issy Scott were applauded for their application to the training program and Henry Lambert was awarded for his continued responsiveness to coaching direction and support of development squad swimmers who are commencing training in the senior lane. Fastest females for the 50m freestyle were Brook Traeger (30.32), India Copland (32.84 ) Xanthia Clark (34.59) and Jamie Ford (36.42). Biggest improver for the girls was 10 year old Jessica Mesecke who bettered her previous personal best by a whopping 5.26 seconds to finish in 56.14 seconds. Also showing great improvements were Kylie Hurrell (52.56), Emma Hamnett (46.23), Dana Hurrell (38.50) and Isabella Baldwin (41.65). For the males, fastest freestyler went to Henry Lambert who clocked an excellent personal best of 26.19 seconds which is just .8 of a second shy of the National Age Qualifying time of 25.40. Hot on his heals were James Andrews (28.18), Max Lambert (29.88) and Kieran Stephens (30.04) who all swam beneath the respective State Qualification standards for their age. Biggest improver went to Stuart Mesecke who shaved off 3.5 seconds off his 50m personal best to finish in 36.56. Also ones to watch will be 10 year olds Joseph Perin (46.53) and Max Rogalski (45.81) who will both be aiming to edge down to the 40 second mark over the winter period. Next on the program was the 50m backstroke and stand out performance goes to Liana Baldwin who finished in a four second personal best of 44.28. This was well under the Country Qualifying standard of 45.50 for 11 year old girls and saw her finish 4th fastest female. Other great improvers were Dana Hurrell (46.51), Bridie Mickan (52.74) and Jessica Mesecke who broke the minute mark finishing in 59.01. For the boys, the 50m backstroke saw a cracker swim from Max Lambert (35.68) to finish fastest male. It always brings a smile to finish in front of an older brother or sister, so Max was all smiles with Henry placing second (36.33), James Andrews third (36.44) and Tommy Ford fourth (38.62). Again Stuart Mesecke has taken a big leap forward finishing in 46.63 (a nearly 6 second personal best). The 50m breastroke saw fastest female awarded to India Copland in 42.57 seconds. India is one of three West Coast Swimmers chosen to represent South Australia at the National School Sport Championships in Melbourne. This competition is held in July and is an important precursor to the 2015 Pacific School Games. Jade Calverley showed her keenness to fine tune her pre-race routines and posted both a very competitive time in her breastroke (1.01.12) and in all other events. Jade is also headed to Melbourne along with Ellie McInerney as part of the South Australian team. Improvement points are awarded to swimmers who post a personal best against previous point score results. 9 year old Tasmin Durdin recorded an excellent breastroke personal best of 55.41 which was the fastest time from both 9 and 10 year old girls. Isabella Baldwin (11) also posted a great result of 56.97. James Andrews was the top of the heap for the male breastrokers finishing in a blistering 37.49 seconds. The long standing tussle between Stuart Mesecke and Kilani Coleman-Smith in the breastroke is always worth the wait and they finished their respective 50m races within .2 of a second of one another (Kilani 46.06 and Stuart 46.24). Butterfly swimmers hit the block next with Brooke Traeger (32.04), India Copland (39.91) and Jamie Ford (40.87) all finishing strongly in their respective heats. Liana Baldwin had an excellent race managing to finish in 53.80 just behind Larissa Sporer (53.75). Training programs over the past month have featured butterfly heavily so it was pleasing to see swimmers put their training practice into action. For the boys Henry Lambert smashed out a sub 30 second 50m swim (29.32). Harrison Adams (37.68) has his sights set on catching Max Lambert (37.03) and came within half a second of his goal. It was great to see Jospeh Perin continue to strengthen his 50m race. He wiped of over 10 seconds from his previous point score result to record a 1.02.19. The challenge for him is to now to get down under the minute mark. The final event on the program was a 200m freestyle and it was inspiring to see 7 year old Bryce Hammond and many of our other younger swimmers comfortably complete this event. Swimmers who look to include longer distance events on their program go through a process of understanding ‘how’ to swim the race as mental strategy and perceived rate of exertion play a critical role in developing a competitive time. Harrison Adams swam a well thought out race to finish in 2.44.17 and again will be looking to start chasing down Max Lambert in this event (2.40.28). The West Coast Swimming Club sincerely appreciates the willingness of parents to support these point score events. Without obliging time keepers, a starter, event marshall and stroke judges they would not be able to be held. The club would like to acknowledge the ongoing role that Lea Traeger has performed in administering the receiving of event entries and publication of results sheets. This is a highly valued role and sincerely appreciated by all club members.
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AUTHORSonia Ford is our publicity officer and would love to hear of noteworthy news items from our swimming community! |