IT WAS not just the weather that was hot over the weekend at Traralgon at the 2024 Gippsland Championships, the SGB swimmers’ times were as well. With plenty of personal bests, finalists, medallists and even a handful of swimmers scoring National Times. Despite the soaring heat, the 115 SGB swimmers once again gave superb efforts against the other Gippsland clubs.
While some might think swimming is the perfect sport for the warm weather, the heat took its toll on the swimmers between races, with the warmup pool a popular spot for cool down swims to get the body cool enough to be ready to race.
Swim heats were held in the morning, with the top eight swimmers progressing to the night’s finals, where SGB was well represented. The finals sessions finished with relays, with great excitement from the stands as the squad cheered home their teams.
The club was challenged by Head Coach Dylan Muir to list on a whiteboard something they were proud of in their swimming and by the end of the weekend it was full of moments of which the club was proud.
SGB is still hot on the heels of Traralgon who, with a much larger team, won the Ken and Pat Hewat Premiership Trophy for most points overall with SGB coming second for the seventh year in a row.
SGB retained the Ashley Delaney 14&U Team Award for the fifth year running, for most points achieved by the club’s Under 14 swimmers.
The coaches were proud of the swimmers’ efforts.
“This is a huge meet for the club”, said Dylan.
“Everyone is involved, from the Under 8 relay teams to the over 35 relay teams and all the individual swimmers. They are all important and help to make the team and the event what it is. We have swimmers really giving their all, they have stood up when we needed them to and the support from the sidelines has lifted them. We knew it would be a huge ask to try to knock off Traralgon, so we’ll leave that challenge till next year.”
It’s a big week for many of the swimmers with school regional swimming in Sale on Thursday, followed by the All-Juniors semi-finals and finals at MSAC next weekend.
The SGB team were: Emma Barclay, Rebecca Barclay, Hayden Barnes, Cooper Bennett, Eden Bennett, Freya Berry, Billy Boyd, Maddison Boyd, Maximilian Brocklesby, Rex Brocklesby, Asha Chalmers, Nyah Chapman, Tully Chapman, Gemma Cook, Angus Cousens, Claudia Croatto, Emily Croatto, Isabel Croatto, Tomei Dal Pozzo, Molly Dettbarn, Byron Doran, Jaya Dowel, Andi Fisher, Billy Fisher, Maggie Fisher, Cormac Flynn, Daisy Giliam-Rodda, Caiden Gill, Lachie Grimes, Cayden Gunn, Callum Hackett, Amy Hodson, Hannah Hunt, Joshua Hunt, Sienna Hunt, Holly Hurst, Lucas Jungwirth, Indi Keady, Molly Kooloos, Rachel Kooloos, Kiarnah Kranen, Donna Lancaster, Amalia Lofgren, Ava Lucas, Hannah Lucas, Mostyn Lumsden, Austin Lynch, Ethan Lynch, Isabella Lynch, Rahni Matheson, Sienna Matheson, Tayah Matheson, Lorrianne Mckenzie, Neka Mckenzie, Sophie Mckenzie, Heidi McMillan, Archer McRae, Fletcher McRae, Harper McRae, Hunter McRae, Lacey McRae, Reece McRae, Ruby McRae, Finn Middleton, Anna Mileto, Jade Mitchell, Tara Mitchell, Dylan Muir, Hugh Munro, Skye Munro, Bayley Nicholas, Trinity O’Keefe, Brooklyn Packer, Mitchell Packer, Lachlan Paterson, Zoe Paterson, Georgia Perry, Harper Perry, Ruby Pirouet, Maddison Pocklington, Cooper Quaife, Gypsy Quaife, Josie Richer, Mya Richer, Eden Roberts, Katherine Roberts, Miah Roberts, Georgia Rump, Jemma Rump, Madison Rump, Abbie Saario, Caitlin Saario, Jayden Saario, Ned Sheahan, Louise Sherar, Zachary Sherar, Will Simmons, Aidan Smyth, Archie Smyth, Darby Smyth, Lara Smyth, Matilda Swann, Jarrah Tagell, Jedda Tagell, Matthew Thornby, Kaela Welsh and Mason Wiggins.
