Geelong Swimming Club

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

SANITARIUM TRI-ATHALON VOLUNTEERS

The Geelong Swimming Club has volunteered to assist with the “Sanitarium Weet-Bix TRY-athlon for Kids", in Geelong on Sunday, 28th February, 2010.

We will be assisting with Marshalling for the event.

It is an early start of 6 a.m. with an approx finish time at 11 a.m. A light breakfast will be provided and they will donate $25.00 per volunteer to the club. Last year they donated $900- to the club.

Parents aren’t the only ones that can help the older swimmers can also volunteer for the day.

If you are able to attend please email Mark Kershaw at mrkershaw@bigpond.com

COUNTRY STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTOS

Karen Giblin photography

Professional photos were taken at Final & Presentation will be available

on C.D. for $20.00, or a selection of photos will be for sale for $10.00 each.

Photos will be available to view soon at www.karengiblinphotography.com

TARGETED MEETS
Meet Date Venue Entries close
All Juniors Country Competition 21st February 2010 Lara
All Schools Swimming Carnival 28th February 2010 Kardinia

Please click here for event listing;

2010 All Junior Information

2010 ALL SCHOOLS

SV Proficiencies

Tuesday 23 March 2010 @ Lara
Details sent to clubs soon.

2010 Victorian Country Swimming Championships

Another fantastic Countries weekend in Warrnambool. A weekend of sensational swimming, team spirit and social activities. Loads of excitement and fun!!!!

Geelong Swimming Club finished third in the Grand Aggregate this year behind Traralgon and Warrnambool:

1 Traralgon 2,567
2 Warrnambool Swimming Club 1,402
3 Geelong 1,008

A fine effort given that our team was nearly half the size of the other teams.

DAY 1

There was a real buzz amongst the Geelong crowd at the first night of final with twenty-eight individual and team races to watch.

Phoebe Mitchell set the pace in the first event with silver in the 50m Breaststroke. The Club had three finalists in the Open Male 200m Breaststroke in Tyler Parkinson, Stephen Lowenthal and Brock Norwood, the boys challenged early in the race but finished in fourth, sixth and seventh.
Jacqui Nolen swam her first final in the 200IM in a very good time of 2.47.75.
Stephanie Taylor had everyone cheering as she was just touched out of a place in the 50m Butterfly, her time a nice 31.83.
Brock Norwood backed up his excellent State Age Butterfly with a third in the Male 16-17 Years 100m Butterfly not long after the earlier 200 Breaststroke.
Millie and Isobel both swam a courageous Open 400m to finish fourth and eighth. Millie only just missed out on a medal and Izzie, battling an iron deficiency, showed great courage.
Stephen was our sole representative in the 400 Freestyle finishing a very credible sixth.
Amelia Elsworth a very promising young squad member swam her first final in the 50m Backstroke to take fifth place.
Breaststroke supremo Trent Richards collected our first Gold medal. Trent has won a Breaststroke Gold medal every Countries since 2004!! That makes SEVEN
Jack Stekelenburg and Sean Beattie continued the run of great swims in the 100m Freestyle. Jack missed third by just half a second.
Stephanie Taylor swam a superb 32.15 to win Gold in the 50m Backstroke comfortably. What a finals this was proving to be for the Club. The parents and swimmers were going off!!
Phoebe Mitchell backed up with sixth in the 50m Butterfly finishing with a big smile.
Luke Rush and Fraser Mahony began their campaign with solid swims in the 100m Freestyle final with Harry Kershaw just missing out.
Brock was up again in the Open 200m Butterfly. He was with the leaders at the 150m but hit the wall as the earlier swims had taken their toll.
Isobel swam a very good heat to qualify for the 100m Backstroke. She was in medal contention at the 70m mark but was swept into the lane ropes by the current created air bubbling up from the bottom. Incredibly disappointing for Izzie after a difficult few weeks. She is to be admired for the professional way she got on with her next swim.
Mitch Norton swam a fast 100m Backstroke to finish sixth in his final.
The excitement of seven out of eight relay finals was next. A return of 1 GOLD, 2 SILVER, 1 BRONZE, 2 FOURTHS AND 1 SIXTH filled the clubs coffers with points. This result a good reflection of the quality of our small team.

In amongst these relay results, the Male 16 Years 4x50 Freestyle team of Andrew McColl, Trent Richards, Brock Norwood and Tyler Parkinson swam a Country record in 1.44.64.

Three Gold, three Silver, one Bronze and seven fourths (!!!!!!!) in this finals session was a fantastic result. Gee I hate fourths!!

DAY 2
At the team meeting before the morning session, I asked all swimmers to have attitude when they raced. I wanted the swimmers to execute the race process as they had trained.

I was not to be disappointed as every swimmer was fantastic, from the first swim in the heats to the last relay final.

The determination and commitment shown by the Open 4x100 Male Freestyle Relay team was inspirational. Andrew McColl, Jack Kershaw, Stephen Lowenthal and Tyler Parkinson swam through the field, to split the two Traralgon teams to finish in second place. Their opponents were so impressed that they congratulated them personally.

Likewise, Steph Taylor, Olivia Dalton, Isobel Lambden and Millie Nelis never gave up to finish fourth by a small margin in the Female 4x100 Freestyle Relay!!

Andrew, Brock, Trent and Tyler won the Male 16 Years 4x50 Medley relay, in another Country Record time. What a combination to take to the Australian Age Championships.

The Male 14 year’s 4x50 Medley relay of Mitchell Norton, Luke Rush, Harry Kershaw and Eric Bolitho was our third relay medal for the session.

Luke Rush won a Gold medal in the 100m Breaststroke with a PB time of 1.19.85. He swam a great tactical race sprinting away from the field in the last 20m.

Stephanie Taylor never looked like being beaten in the 50m Freestyle even though the race was very close. The close competition inspired a very fast 28.75sec swim

Andrew McColl is swimming with great control and maturity at the moment. He just improves with every swim. His silver medal in the Male 16 Years 100m Backstroke was no exception.

Tyler Parkinson and Trent Richards added to their medal tally with bronze in the 100m Freestyle and 200IM final respectively. Both boys swam aggressively with ATTITUDE.

This session it was fifths not fourths , seven in fact!!

Other finalists included Phoebe Mitchell in the 50m Backstroke, Isobel Lambden and Andrew McColl in the Open 200m Backstroke, Amelia Elsworth in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly, Harry Dalton in the 100m Breaststroke (the tradition continues!!), Millie Nelis in the Open 100m Freestyle, Olivia Dalton in the 50m Breaststroke, Tyler Parkinson in the 100m Backstroke, Andrew McColl in the 100m Freestyle, Sean Beattie and Jack Stekelenburg

Jack Kershaw was the most aggressive swimmer of the session with determined swims in the Open and age group 100m finals. He took this determined attitude into the final relay of the day.

Six out of eight relay finals added to another very successful finals session of 26 swims.

DAY 3

Another twenty-one finals to enjoy in the last session of the Championships.

No Gold but four silver medals and two bronze to celebrate amongst several strong swims.

Tyler Parkinson claimed two silver medals in the 200IM and the 100 Breaststroke and Stephanie Taylor one in the 100m Freestyle. Harry Kershaw kicked home strongly in the 100m Butterfly to finish third

The 12/U Medley relay including Zac Hussain, Harry Dalton, Sean Beattie and Jack Stekelenburg teamed together to win a silver medal. Harry Kershaw, Fraser Mahony, Eric Bolitho and Mitch Norton powered home to win a bronze medal in the 14/u Freestyle relay.

So many swimmers gave all they had left in the other finals including Phoebe Mitchell, Brock Norwood (2), Fraser Mahony, Sean Beattie, Zac Hussain, Olivia Dalton, Millie Nelis, (2) Trent Richards Andy McColl, Jacqui Nolen, Steve Lowenthal (2), and Jack Kershaw.

It certainly was a huge team effort full of character and mental toughness.

Thanks to Rebecca Balm and Wendy Svetnik for their coaching, the relay selectors and other team members for their contribution to the team success.

A special mention for Jarrad King, Steph Taylor, Olivia Dalton and Heath Kean. We very much appreciate you competing for the Club at he Victorian Country Championships. I hope you will be back for Geelong next year. You are all great role models to the swimmers.

The 2011 Victorian Country Swimming Championships will be held in GEELONG at the Kardinia Pool over the weekend of 28-30 January. I ask all club swimmers, past and present, to work hard to get entry times so that we can field a big, strong team to represent the Club.

John Beckworth
Head Coach

2010 VICTORIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

A Top 10 finish

The Geelong Swimming Club finished eighth in the Grand Aggregate at the Victorian Open Swimming Championships on the strength of the performances of Phoebe Mitchell and Daniel Bell. Phoebe swam a World Record in the 50m Breaststroke and claimed the 100m Breaststroke World Record from a South African swimmer. Phoebe swam in five finals altogether finishing in the minor places. Her wave to the crowd and her huge smile was a sight to see.

Daniel Bell had a huge program with thirteen races including six finals. Despite a limited preparation, due to a white Christmas in England, Daniel still managed Silver and three Bronze medals. He had to race each final without a cool down due to his finals being very close together.
Trent Richards achieved an Australian Open time in the 50 Breaststroke and backed that up with an excellent 100 Breaststroke.
There were a number of personal bests for the 50m sprints. Stephen Lowenthal (BRS), Millie Nelis (FS), Mitchell Norton (BKS), Tyler Parkinson (BKS & BFLY).

Tyler Parkinson, Stephen Lowenthal, Jack Kershaw and Andrew McColl finished 11th in the Male Open 4x100 Freestyle Relay
Trent Richards (50 BRS), Tyler Parkinson (100 and 200 BRS), Andrew McColl (50 BKS) and Daniel Bell have qualified for the Commonwealth Games Trials in Sydney in March.

So far, Trent Richards (100 BRS); Tyler Parkinson (100 & 200 BRS, 200 IM; Andrew McColl (100 BKS) and Brock Norwood (100 & 200 BFLY) have qualified for the Australian Age Championships in Sydney in April. The boys will compete as a relay team at this meet.

John Beckworth
Head Coach

2010 VICTORIAN AGE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Victorian Age Swimming Championships finished on a high with Tyler Parkinson collected a bronze medal in the Male 16 years 200 Breaststroke in 2.31.03.

It was Tyler’s sixteenth swim for the meet which included finals in the 200 Freestyle, the 200IM, the 100 Breaststroke and the Male 16U Freestyle, and Male 16U and 18U Medley relays.

Tyler accumulated ten personal best times and added the 200IM and 50 Freestyle National times to his 100 and 200 Breaststroke qualifiers.

Brock Norwood swam one of the most exciting races for the meet in the 16 Years 200m Butterfly final. He finished a very close fourth after swimming most of the race in second position. He swam an excellent National time of 2.11.19, which was a ten second improvement on his entry time. Brock also swam the 16U100m Butterfly final finishing sixth with a National time of 59.25.

Andrew McColl’s first swim of the meet was a National time in the 16 Years 100 Backstroke. He finished in seventh place in the final in 1.02.77. His 100 Freestyle was also a best time.

Other finalists included Trent Richards in the 15 Years 100 Breaststroke and Millie Nelis in the 15 Years 400 Freestyle.

All of the younger swimmers made very impressive progress recording significant personal best times:

Luke Rush (5), Jacqui Nolen(4), Mitchell Norton(3), Harry Kershaw(3), Fraser Mahony(1), Keeley Murrihy(1). Jacqui and Harry both swam inspirational 200 Butterfly races.

Personal bests were also recorded by Braden Lowenthal (not so young 3), Jack Kershaw (older 1), Stephen Lowenthal (even older 3).

It was great to have Olivia Dalton, Steph Taylor and Laura Stekelenburg swim relays for the club. They finished 10th in the 18U Freestyle relay final, with Millie Nelis.

The Male 16U relay team including Tyler Parkinson, Trent Richards, Brock Norwood and Andrew McColl swam in the Freestyle and Medley Relay finals. Tyler and Andrew combined with jack Kershaw and Stephen Lowenthal to finish 6th in the Male 18U Medley Relay.

The club was the third Country Club and 25th overall in the Combined Tally.

John Beckworth
Head Coach

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Regards

John Beckworth
Head Coach Geelong Swimming Club
Mobile: 0417522046
Web: www.swimfast.com.au