POOL TALK

VICTORIAN COUNTRY SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 REPORT

The 2011 Victorian Country Short Course Swimming Championships were held over the weekend of August 13th and 14th 2011 at the Aquamoves facility in Shepparton. 

The Ovens and Murray District Swimming   District was well represented  with  70  of our  Swimmers  from 7  local  Clubs travell ing  to compete in the event which attracted  444 country  Victorian smimmers.

Wangaratta Swimming Club 's 14 year old Eliza Ham was the most successful local swimmer on the weekend bringing home a total of 9 medals, 8 of them gold. She continued her brilliant recent form as she achieved new country record times in the 400m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley.  Grace Harmer and Elli Warren, also from Wangaratta both medalled, with Grace bringing home 1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals in the 18 and over women's events  while Elli  received  1 silver and 2 bronze medals in the women's 12-13 year old events. Kate Brown and Jack Synnot also had top 10 placings helping Wangaratta to achieve 5 th place on the overall team scores behind the much larger teams from Traralgon (overall winners), Geelong , Warrnambool and Geelong Sharks.

Wodonga swimmers also medalled with Heath MacLeod winning a   gold,  a silver and a bronze  medal in the 11 and under boy's age group. Georgia Stadelmann , in the 13-14 year old girl's events achieved one bronze medal and multiple top 10 swims. Alyce Parker, Harrison Lowe, Ben Bayes-Smith, Olivia Plunkett, James Jarrous, Rachel Hindmarsh and Zoe Deacon also placed in the top 10 of at least one event.

Representing GT Aquatic s , Jai Smith, Jake Luhrs, Adam Robinson, Georgia Polkinghorne, Marielle Turner and Reid Fagan all had top 10 finishes.

Albury North Lavington Club also had multiple swimmers with top 10 finishers including Allen Cornall, Ben O'Brien, Euan Macleod, Mikaela Moncrieff and Bronson Meehan as did Yarrawonga Mulwala's Catherine Thompson, Philip Shiels and Thomas Shiels.

Albury and Myrtleford Clubs also had small representative teams at the event.

All these swimmers and those who missed out on top 10 times are to be congratulated for initially qualifying for the meet and then for their great efforts on the weekend with many personal best times achieved . 

At the opening ceremony of the Championship, Swimming Victoria announced  that the 2012  Victorian Country Short Course Championships  will be held   at the Wangaratta Indoor Sports and Aquatic Centre w ith the support of the O vens and Murray District Swimming Association . As in previous years, this is expected to attract a large number of swimmers and their coaches and families to the region.