DESPITE the cracks of lightning which delayed the start, the weekend’s long-course open swim meet jointly hosted by the Wangaratta Amateur Swimming Club is being hailed a major triumph.

A crowd of 387 swimmers from across the state and further made the trip to the WSAC’s outdoor pool, braving conditions and recording incredible results.

Wangaratta Amateur Swimming Club president Allison Allen said the weather was pretty king, barring a slight delay to the start of racing on Saturday.

“The weather did impact us but it was probably the best outcome,” she said.

“Basically, we could swim in whatever weather, other than lightning and the lightning strike was just when our swimmers were doing their warm-up, so we had to clear the pool.

“All the swimmers just hung out in the stadium, played a bit of basketball, and we ended up starting an hour later.

“Everything was fine after that, so we were pretty pleased at the end of the day, there were minimal disruptions which was great.”

The Wangaratta Amateur Swimming Club had 37 swimmers across 177 events, with 67 personal best times recorded.

Allen said the meet received nothing but praise from all attendees.

“It was so good to have swimmers from all over the country, particularly the big clubs that travelled up from Melbourne, they had a great time and they gave us fantastic feedback,” she said.

“The clubs that travel to us, they love it, they say it’s fantastic vibe - I think it’s got a very different feel to meets in Melbourne, I think the country hospitality goes down well, they love coming up and swimming at Wangaratta.

“Everyone was really happy with the weekend, it was a great fundraiser for us, great for our swimmers to be competing against swimmers from all over the country.”

RESULTS

Bronze medal: Arabella Chapman – 50m butterfly.

Silver medal: Clementine Chapman – 100m breaststroke; Harry Allen, Logan Pace, Jasmin Thwaites, Alice Colson – open 4x50m freestyle relay.

Finalists (top eight) – Ingrid Brettig, 50m breaststroke; Harry Chandler, 200m breaststroke; Arabella Chapman, 50m backstroke. 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 100m breaststroke; Clementine Chapman. 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m backstroke; Nina Fortaliza, 100m butterfly, 100m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke; Sofia Gallo, 50m breaststroke; Mackenzie Lawford, 50m backstroke; Jemima Pizzini. 100m backstroke; Evelyn Selby. 100m butterfly; Jasmin Thwaites. 100m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke; Gabe Watson. 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly; Harvey Wyatt. 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle.

One new National Championships qualifying time – Max Chandler; one new Victorian Age Championships qualifying time; five new Victorian Country Championships qualifying times; two new Victorian Sprint Championships qualifying times.