Rockingham swimmers go national

Rockingham Swimming Club head coach Gordon Shaw took four of his top swimmers to the Georgina Hope Swimmers Foundation National Age Championships in Adelaide last month.

The swimmers, Bianca Russell, 16, Austin McAleese, 15, Avalon Browne, 15, and Ethan McAleese, 13, have all been training hard over the summer season to qualify for a number of events at the national competition.

For Avalon and Ethan, it was their first experience of swimming at national level.

However, this certainly didn’t hold them back.

Avalon swam in both the 400m and 200m freestyle events swimming a 1.59 second personal best time in the 200m and finished with a national ranking of 22nd.

Thirteen-year-old Ethan qualified for five events and finished in the top 15 in all of them.

His biggest achievements were in the 200m and 400m individual medley. He knocked more than five seconds off his previous times and finished in fifth place in both events.

Ethan’s older brother, Austin, qualified for six events and finished in the top seven in the 400m individual medley and 200m breaststroke.

He also swam an amazing 5.75 second personal best time in the 200m butterfly and leaped 19 places in the rankings.

Bianca cheered on her teammates while waiting patiently for her event, the 200m backstroke, on the last day of the six-day meet.

She battled hard against very tough competition and is ranked 35th in the country.

Young swimmers from the Rockingham club dominated the school swimming carnivals in the local area last term.

The various schools hold their annual swimming carnivals as a form of fun and friendly competition between the students.

Most schools hold a number of races, points are tallied and the champion boy and girl and runner-up in each age group is presented with a trophy or medal.

These events are a great opportunity for the club swimmers to showcase their skills and demonstrate to their friends what can be achieved with a little hard work and commitment.