SGB swim strongly at State

THE success of South Gippsland Bass at the State Age Championships continued at MSAC over the weekend, with 23 swimmers competing in the 13 to 17-year-old age categories. This was the largest

SGB team to compete at Short Course States, with 17 swimmers competing last year. If you also include the nine 12-year-olds who raced a fortnight ago, it is an effort of which the club is extremely proud.

It was a busy schedule for some swimmers who competed in longer distance races such as the 1500m as well as in the heats and finals of shorter distances on the same day. It is also challenging for swimmers to race in several 200m races, but the team did their coaches proud.

“It has been a fantastic short course season,” said Coach Dylan, who was on pool deck all weekend with Coach Caiden.

“The team has really put in with their training and we have seen the results at Country Championships and now here. For some of them it has been a busy four weeks with big schedules, but they are really seeing the benefits of their efforts. They have dug deep, and we are proud of all of them. The medals earned is just the icing on the cake.”

With nearly half the swimmers making finals or finishing top 10 in the longer distance events, it was a busy weekend for swimmers and coaches, with swimmers competing in heats in the morning followed by finals at night. Family and friends cheered from the stands, while many of the younger club swimmers watched on at home on the Swimming Victoria’s live YouTube channel, inspired and hoping to be there too one day.

The club was thrilled with their effort in the team points, finishing at their highest result, a fantastic effort with some of the big Melbourne clubs having three times as many swimmers as SGB.
Finalists: 

Claudia Croatto (14) 7th 100m Breaststroke, 8th 200m Breaststroke.

Molly Dettbarn (14) 7th 1500m Freestyle.

Cormac Flynn (13) 2nd 100m Breaststroke, 2nd 200m Breaststroke.
Olivia Holmes (14) 6th 400m Freestyle, 5th 200m Individual Medley, 5th 200m Freestyle, 5th 100m Individual Medley, 5th 200m Backstroke, 4th 400m IM, 6th 100m Backstroke.

Josh Hunt (14) 8th 200m Butterfly.

Mostyn Lumsden (16) 8th 400m Freestyle, 10th 200m Freestyle, 7th 200m Butterfly.

Rahni Matheson (15) 8th 100m Breaststroke, 5th 200m Individual Medley, 9th 200m Backstroke, 1st 100m Breaststroke, 1st 200m Breaststroke.

Sienna Matheson (16) 8th 200m Breaststroke, 7th 100m Breaststroke.

Hugh Munro (15) 8th 1500m Freestyle.

Miah Roberts (13) 3rd 200m Backstroke, 8th 100m Backstroke.

Zac Sherar (14) 8th 100m Breaststroke, 6th 200m Individual Medley, 8th 200m Freestyle, 7th 100m Freestyle, 7th 200m Breaststroke.

Will Simmons (14) 5th 200m Backstroke, 6th 100m Backstroke.

The swimmers now have a few weeks to recover and a break in September before they get ready for a training camp before returning to the longer pools after the school holidays.