Region's best flex their muscles

A WHOPPING 58 new regional championship records were set over a captivating weekend at the Ovens and Murray Swimming Championships. The biggest regional championships in 20 years lived up the hype at the Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre (WSAC) with a festive atmosphere greeting 334 competitors from across the region in picture perfect conditions at the outdoor pool. Ovens and Murray District Swimming Association president, Brendon Shiels, said it was a massive turnout across Saturday and Sunday with some top quality swimming displayed from the best in the region. “It was huge, the weather was beautiful and the recorders did some magical changes to the program to change up things which was good,” he said. “Wangaratta Amateur did a great job hosting the meet, they looked after everybody, the staff at the facility were very accommodating and it was really well run. “We have been rotating the championships around a couple of pools in the region, I know a couple of people have mentioned the possibility of keeping it in Wangaratta permanently, but that’s something the board will have to decide.” Clubs from Albury, North Albury and Wodonga dominated the listings of the 58 new records, with some records broken for the first time since the 1990s, previously held by former Olympic swimmer Jacinta Van Lint. The feature 100m men freestyle winner was 16-year-old Oscar Kreutzberger from North Albury who took home the Dr Worch trophy, while 14-year-old Sienna Toohey from Albury won the girls Gordon Dowling 100m freestyle trophy, breaking Wangaratta swimmer Maggie Skewes’ 2018 record by .07sec in the process. In their hometown meets, 33 swimmers from Wangaratta Amateur Swimming Club and 20 swimmers from the Wangaratta Stingrays showed out in a big weekend for the local clubs. Among the standouts for the locals was 10-year-old Dylan Dickson from Wangaratta Amateur taking home four golds and two silver medals, 12 year-old Max Chandler finishing with five total medals and 10 year-old Eliza Looby from Wangaratta Stingrays, who cleaned up with six gold medals and a silver. Swimmers will return to WSAC on March 3 for the Ovens and Murray Relay Swimming Championships before heading to the Victorian Country All Junior Finals in Melbourne on March 16 and 17 to conclude the summer season. Full results from Wangaratta swimmers below: Wangaratta Amateur Swimming Club: Dylan Dickson – Four gold medals in the 50m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley & 100m Freestyle, two silver medals in the 50m Butterfly & 100m Breaststroke, three PBs; Max Chandler – Two silver medals in the 50m Butterfly & 50m Breaststroke, three bronze medals in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke & 200m Individual Medley, four PBs; Jasmin Thwaites – Silver medal in the 50m Backstroke, Bronze medal in the 100m Backstroke, five additional finals (top eight) placings; Harry Chandler – Silver medal in the 100m Butterfly, six additional finals placings, three PBs; Sofia Gallo -Four bronze medals in the 50m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke& 100m Freestyle; Harry Allen- Bronze medal in the 50m Breaststroke, three additional finals placings, one PB; Sebastian Brettig -Bronze medal in the 50 Backstroke, one PB; Nina Fortaliza -Bronze medal in the 50 Breaststroke; six additional finals placings, one PB; Alice Colson - Seven finals placings, one PB; Ingrid Brettig - Seven finals placings; Arabella Chapman - Five finals placings, three PBs; Logan Pace - Four finals placings, three PBs; Evelyn Selby -Four finals placings, two PBs; Emma Wyatt - Four finals placings, two PBs; Emily Chandler - Three finals placings, five PBs; Mackenzie Lawford- Two finals placings, three PBs; Hugh Barnden- Two finals placings, one PBs; Harvey Wyatt - Two finals placings; Clementine Chapman - One finals placing, two PBs; Emmy Brettig - One finals placing, one PB; Maddison Craven - One finals placing , one PB; Zara Kalish - One finalist placing; Phoebe Alexander - Four PBs; Patrick Hunter- Three PBs; Caitlyn Barnden - Two PBs; Spencer Jackson - Two PBs; Cooper Kidgell - One PB; Wangaratta Stingrays: Eliza Looby – Six gold medals and one silver from seven events. Awarded 10yrs age champion. Gold in 10 yrs: 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle, Silver in 10yrs 100m breaststroke. Matthew Mace: Five medals; silver in 15yrs: 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m backstroke, Bronze in 15yrs, 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly. Matt also made a qualifying time for the 2024 Australian Age Championships (Nationals) in the 50m Freestyle, to be held on the Gold Coast in April. Alexandra Looby: Two bronze medals; 12yrs 100m and 50m backstroke. Leo Palmer: Silver 11yrs 50m butterfly and bronze 11yrs 100 backstroke. Hannah Sanders: Bronze 15yrs 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. Lucinda Judd: Bronze 10 and under 50m backstroke. Most of the 19 swimmers achieved personal best times in multiple races across the weekend with many placing in the top eight of finalists.

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