State Age and State Open Championships:
Sydney University Swimming Club was well represented at the recent State Age and State Open Championships.
SUSC had five swimmers compete in the 13-18 years NSW State Age Championships, with Zane Jordan making the finals in the 200m freestyle. Zane finished 6th in a time slightly slower than his heat swim. Other swimmers included Jess Cerni, Taylor Aitken, Edwina Blackburn and Spencer White.
The highlight of the championship was the Men’s 10 x 50m relay winning gold. Headed by Australian representatives Matt Abood, Matt Jaukovic and Jono Newton, the team led from the start to finish three seconds in front of Trinity Grammar. Other members included Gordon Willis, David Wise, Tim Halliday, Zane Jordan, Alistaire Pickles, Sam McConnell and Carlos Stephenson.
The women’s team also performed well finishing 9th.
Victorian State Championships:
Sydney University’s Open squad began 2010 in style at the recent Victorian Championships which were used for the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games Trials to be held in March. Competition was of high quality with many Olympians competing.
Sydney University was represented by 14 athletes and coach Steve Alderman. The competition produced great results from the swimmers with eight of the 14 athletes progressing through to the finals.
Matt Abood won Sydney Uni’versity’s only individual medal picking up the bronze medal in the 50m freestyle with fellow Sydney University swimmers Jono Newton finishing 6th and Gordon Willis 8th. Matt also made the finals in the 100m freestyle, where he finished 5th.
James Etter made the finals for the first time in a major championship in three events, 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, finishing 10th, 8th and 7th. Teammate Alistaire Pickles also made the finals in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, finishing in 9th and 8th place.
Sam McConnell and Matt Jaukovic both qualified in the 50m butterfly final finishing 7th and 9th. Sam also swam in the 100m butterfly final, placing 10th.
Kate Johnson was Sydney University’s only female finalist, finishing 5th in the 200m butterfly.
Sydney University relay teams also performed well with the men’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay claiming the bronze medal. The team was headed by Matt Abood, who teamed up with Gordon Willis, Zane Jordan and Sam McConnell.
The men’s 4 x 100 medley relay finished a creditable 7th with Commonwealth record holder Matt Jaukovic, Zane Jordan, Alistaire Pickles and Sam McConnell.
The women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay of Gemma and Kate Johnson, Emma Gray and Gabriela Chan performed well to finish 8th.
The team is currently in an intense phase of training leading up to the Commonwealth Games Trials.
NSW State Age Championships – 10 and under to 12 years
While the Open swimmers were in Victoria, coach Vanessa Smith and nine 9-12 year old athletes competed at the NSW State Age Championships for 10 and under to 12-year-olds at SOPAC.
The team of Lewis Blackburn, Angelique Barrett, Huon Fairbairn, Cecilia Mafi, Paige Burland, Coby Smith-Carr, Jayce Carrano and first-time state swimmers Imogen Brent and Calunn Seddon performed well. There were many personal best times and club records broken.
Congratulations to all individual swimmers. Special mention to the following swimmers who broke Club records: Lewis Blackburn broke the nine years 100m backstroke club record and Angelique Barrett broke the 11 years 50m freestyle club record.
Well done also to the Club relay teams – 200m freestyle, 200m medley and 10 x 50m freestyle. It was a great opportunity to represent the club and swim against other teams from across the state.
