Juniors diving in to nationals excitement

FOUR Wangaratta juniors are off to compete against Australia’s fastest in the water this weekend. Max Chandler (12), Nina Fortaliza (14), Harry Allen (14) from Wangaratta Amateur Swimming Club and Wangaratta Stingray’s Matthew Mace (15) are heading to the sunshine state in Gold Coast where this year’s Australian Age and Multi-Class Age champions will be crowned. For Harry and Max it will be their first time on a national championship stage while Nina and Matthew will be backing up last year’s appearance. Harry made the qualification time for the 50m butterfly at the state All Junior Finals in Melbourne on March 16. The 14-year-old will be swimming on Thursday afternoon and said he was looking forward to hitting the water against the high caliber of competition. “It’ll be a lot easier focusing on the one stroke, you don’t have to worry about anything else and I’ve been feeling very good about my butterfly lately,” he said. “It would be good to improve on my PB but it’s all about having fun.” Since appearing at nationals last year, Nina has made steady improvements on her personal bests in her preferred breastroke throughout the summer season, highlighted by her silver medal placing at the state All Junior Finals. Nina said she was hoping to continue her string of PBs for her 50m event on Wednesday. “I dropped half a second at state and it would be good if could get 35sec,” she said. “It’ll be good to have the team support there.” Wangaratta Stingray’s Matthew Mace will be appearing in his second straight year in the 50m freestyle and backstroke events after making qualifying times in the regional championships in Wangaratta back in February. Matthew said his experience on the big stage last year had greatly contributed to a boost in confidence going into his swims this year. “I am feeling much better than I had felt last year going into nationals, because I have a clear picture of what to expect on the day and what to do,” he said. “Competing at a level such as nationals is a great achievement because it reflects any athlete's hard work and dedication to get to this point in their career.” The 15-year-old will be competing in the 50m freestyle on Tuesday and the 50m backstroke on the following Saturday, April 13. “I am hoping to make it to a final in freestyle, either top 10 or 20, as freestyle is my most dominant stroke; while in backstroke I’m not expecting much, maybe a PB,” Matt said. Matthew will also be supporting good friend Merlin Tzaros on April 7 as the 15-year-old competes in his triathlon nationals. Max will be the first of the local hopes to be jumping in the water in the multi-class events, swimming the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyles from Saturday to Monday. On his nationals debut, Max will be heading in with plenty of confidence after an outstanding All Junior Finals with four gold medals across all strokes. Every day of the Australian Age and MC Championships will be streamed live via 9now.

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