The NSW State Age Swimming Championships were conducted over the last two weeks in the 2000 Olympic Pool at Homebush. For some of our younger competitors, it was their first experience competing at this level and they were full of enthusiasm for the event. This was infectious to our older swimmers and they too approached the meet with gusto. This was the first time the team was without long-term stalwart Bradley Woodward who has aged out of this competition. It was up to our young guns to step up.

Our team

Mingara Aquatic was represented by 24 swimmers in Individual and Relay events. Our swimmers collected 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal and contested 15 Finals plus countless Individual Best performances. This was a fantastic result!

Great results

Leading the way was Nathan Ward who won a Silver Medal in the 16yrs 100 Breaststroke and placed 4th in the 200 Breaststroke.
Newcomer Zara Good in her first time at the senior level made finals in the 13yrs 100 and 200 Breaststroke placing 5th in the 100 and winning a Bronze Medal in the 200m event.
The other swimmers to make finals were:

  • Shaye Booth who was most successful making six finals including a 4th in the 100 Backstroke,
  • Nicholas Lamond who was in the finals in the 200 Backstroke.
  • Abbey Proctor who was in finals in both 100 and 200 Backstroke,
  • Daniel Chisolm who was not only in the final in the 400 Freestyle but took a massive five seconds off his heat time to improve two places in the final and qualify for his first Australian Championships (super effort)
  • and Brock Hepburn who made finals in 50 and 200 Freestyle.

When it came to Individual best performance the honours were shared between 17yr old Shaye Booth and 13yr old Daniel Chisolm who both had huge programs yet managed to gain 6 Individual Best Times across the meet.
This was a great result for our Team and a great credit to our coaching staff, Mingara Aquatics Head Coach Steve Critoph and Assistant Head Coach Michael Hyslop (pictured with Zara)

Commonwealth Games trial

Nathan and Shaye have qualified to contest the upcoming Commonwealth Games trials so their focus will be on firstly the NSW Open Championships then Trials in March. This is a great achievement in itself as only the very best swimmers in the country qualify for this event and is a great credit to our program.
Shaye and Nathan will be joined (at this stage) by Nick Lamond, Zara Good and Daniel Chisolm contesting the Australian Age championships, with a couple of months to go we hope this number will grow before the Championships in April after the Commonwealth Games.
Find out more about Learning to Swim or Squad training at Mingara Aquatics here.