Article and images provided by the Fraser Coast Swim Club.
SWIMMING: Qualifying for the Australian Championships is a milestone achievement, as five of Fraser Coast Swimming Club’s top swimmers took on some of Australia’s best.
The largest annual event on the Swimming Australia calendar, the Australian Age Championships saw Fraser Coast Swimming Club members Xavier Metcalfe, Isla Baker, Lilly Carpenter, Sienna Weger, and Emma Daddow spend their Easter school holidays in the pool, competing alongside the next generation of swimming stars.
First-time National competitors Emma Daddow, Sienna Wegner and Isla Baker showed excellent execution, independent thinking and maturity as athletes.
Emma Daddow competed in the 400 Freestyle with a solid 2-second personal best time and placed 32nd.
Sienna Wegner qualified and competed in 2 events, 50 Freestyle and 50 Butterfly, with significant personal bests. That marked an improvement in her overall seed time.
While Isla Baker’s times are a bit off her best, her 50 and 100 Butterfly showed great technic and perfect execution.
“Speed and strength can only carry a swimmer to a certain extent. Beyond this, they must rely on strong techniques to help them get through the race. An outstanding accomplishment from our team was managing their control of emotions and nerves, which can be a monumental task. I couldn’t be prouder of their efforts,” coach Liz Kopacz said.
It was Lilly Carpenter’s second time qualifying for 50, 100 and 200 Breaststroke at Nationals. Her racing spirit was in full force, attacking each event with her best effort and coming away with invaluable learning experiences to carry into her next year of racing.
Swimming a heavy schedule over seven days, Xavier Metcalfe qualified for 12 events and chose to scale down to 6 events concentrating on his Individual Medley and distance Free.
This decision paid off on Day 1, securing a third in the 200 Individual Medley, knocking off 2 seconds of his personal best time. He swam consistently throughout the week with personal best times and placed 6th in 1500 Freestyle, 11th in 800 Freestyle, 14th in 400 Freestyle and 16th in 200 Freestyle. Just as he started the week, he ended it carrying this momentum into the final day with a bronze in the 400 Individual Medley and smashing 4.78 seconds off his personal best time.
“Whilst swimming is often seen as an individual sport, the effort required in training to reach these high standards requires a team to encourage, motivate and push you to your best. Teamwork makes Fraser Coast swimmers shine, and I highly commend our team for their dedication and commitment to their training and the sport,” She said.
