Alstonville Swimming Club breaks records at National Swimming Championships on Gold Coast
Northern NSW swimmers have brought home the bacon in an “amazing” showing at the National Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast.
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North Coast swimmers have pitched themselves against the best from across the country at the National Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast.
Alstonville Swimming Club enjoyed its most successful championship to date in the April event with a team of ten swimmers competing.
That included Coco Robinson, Alana Bromhead, Harry Kilburn, Hayden Winney, McKinley Arnison, Lachlan Trease, Felicity Walker, Niquola White, Sophie Mayes and Aidan Arnison.
Swimmers that have migrated to the club while they continue to wait for their own pools to reopen after the 2022 floods impressed coaches with their results.
The team trained hard for the competition at Alstonville Aquatic Centre under the guidance of coaches Graham Walker, Clayton Fettell and James Winney.
Mr Walker said the club’s results were “outstanding this year”.
“Swimmers from Alstonville won four medals, had 13 top ten swims and an amazing 23 personal best times at the championships,” he said.
Standout performers included competitors Sophie Mayes, 18, Felicity Walker, 15 and McKinley Arnison, 17.
Sophie won silver in the 50m butterfly, took 5th in the 200m individual medley, 50m
backstroke and placed 9th in the 100 butterfly.
“I love setting new challenges and pushing myself to achieve them. Swimming has given me the opportunity to develop so many amazing friendships and lifelong connections,” she said.
The teen was recognised for setting a NSW Country record for the 50m butterfly with a swim time of 27.38 at the NSW Country Short Course championships in July, 2022.
Felicity competed in her first national championships and took home the silver in the 1500m freestyle, placed 5th in the 800m freestyle and 9th in the 400 freestyle.
“I love the social (aspect), but I also love the feel of being in the water, just taking a break from everything and doing what I love,” she said.
Mr Walker said Felicity handled the pressure well.
“She has been training hard and took a lot of confidence into the competition and it showed in her performances. She backed herself in her races and stuck to her race plan very well,” he said.
“Felicity was very pleased with her results, but humble at the same time.
“She was also really happy that her teammates swam very well at the championships.”
McKinley won the silver in the 100 freestyle and bronze in the 200m freestyle for Para Athletes, and made finals in every event she contested.
Mckinley also swam fast enough in her 400m freestyle to be eligible for selection in the Australian Flippers team.
“What I love most about swimming is the friends I’ve made through the sport and the places I’ve got to travel to,” she said.
It comes on the back of her achievements in the Para Swimming World Series, Melbourne in February, where she placed 6th in 400m freestyle, and 7th in both 50m and 100m freestyles.
Mr Walker said all the swimmers “stepped up and raced well”.
“To have swimmers winning medals at the National Championships is fantastic for a small town like Alstonville,” he said.
The club’s next big target is the NSW Country Short Course championships (25m pool racing) in Sydney at the end of June.
“This will be our last target competition for the season, then the swimmers will take a well earned break during July,” Mr Walker said.
“We have a great group of young swimmers coming through our program at Alstonville in the nine to 12 years age group.
“They should be strong competitors at state and national level in the coming years.
“One stand out is young gun Eve Drew, 9, who has recently made the NSW Schools team to compete at the Australian Schools Championships.”
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