Club places fifth in WA with fine personal best performances

Rockingham Swimming Club’s finest put on a show at the State Open and Age Championships, coming home ranked fifth in the club standings out of 37 teams.

The club’s young stars collected 34 medals at the event, as well as recording 92 personal bests from 146 races for a personal best rating of 62 per cent.

The event, which was held at HBF Stadium in Mount Claremont, also saw two of Rockingham’s brightest young stars — Summer Burkett and Lily Beste — selected for the WA State Short Course team.

Club president Grant Beste lauded the efforts of the Rockingham team, which featured swimmers from the ages of 12 to 28.

“For some it was their first experience of age completion, a step up from juniors, this was a great experience and learning for future championship events,” Beste said.

“The whole team should be proud of the 92 PBs and 34 medals acquired over the weekend, which amassed a point total that put the club in fifth position on the points table with a team that was lower in numbers than many of the big Perth clubs.”

Thanks to their fantastic performances, Summer and Lily will head to Canberra with the rest of the West Australian team to compete at the Australian Institute of Sport from September 21 to 24.

Rockingham Swimming Club’s new head coach, Brooke Kemp, also tasted success as she was selected to represent WA as one the State team coaches.

Former head coach Will Scott, who is now South West WAIS performance head coach, will also be in charge of the WA Short Course squad.

Beste said the club’s success was a testament to the strength of the program run by the coaching staff.

“Our juniors and age group swimmers have some remarkable role models to follow and learn from at the club, with elite swimmers Holly Barratt and Tommy Sucipto recently returning from international competitions where they raced against the best and came away with outstanding results,” he said.