Four East Coast swimmers make a splash in Adelaide

Swimmers continue to train and compete despite Covid, border closures and floods. Here is their story.

Eyes on the end goal. Declan Sutton at the now heated Macksville pool. Photo: Chris Knight.

Four North Coast swimmers competed in the national Australian swimming championships in Adelaide this week.

Two swimmers from Lismore’s Trinity Swimming Club, Sophie Mayes, 17 and Niquola White, 17 made the interstate trek along with well known Macksville swimmer Declan Sutton, 20 and Olivia Sullivan, 17 from Kingscliff.

Each swimmer was competing for selection in the National team due to attend the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England later in the year.

Trinity Swimming Club Sophie Mayes placed 6th in the Australian swimming championships in Adelaide this week. Picture contributed.

Trinity Swimming Club’s Sophie Mayes achieved a personal best of 27:83, ranking 6th in Australia in the 50 metre butterfly age group final.

The 17 year-old swam well in the 100 metre freestyle (58:46), 100 metre butterfly (1:03.14), 50 metre breaststroke (34:52), 50 metre backstroke (31:06), 50 metre freestyle (26:91) and 100 metre backstroke (1:06.91).

Teammate Niquola White swam in the 50 metre backstroke and the 50 metre freestyle with a seed times of 31.07 and 27.50.

Like many swimmers from the Lismore region, Mayes and White have had to find alternate pools to train in.

Faye Rowles from North Coast Swimming said after Trinity lost their pool in the floods many swimmers have gone to Alstonville to train or interstate.

“A lot of our swimmers end up in Qld,” she said.

“They go there for coaching and training.”

Macksville swimmer Declan Sutton has been swimming since he was nine years old.

Competing against a wide field of swimmers from all across Australia, Sutton had six races: 100 metre butterfly, 50 metre freestyle, 50 metre butterfly, 100 metre backstroke, 100 metre freestyle, and 50 metre backstroke.

Declan Sutton is supported by the Macksville community, who would like nothing more than to see him represent Australia. Photo: Chris Knight.

“I enjoyed it, it was a race a day so it wasn’t too taxing on my body,” Sutton said.

The 20 year-old said he learnt a lot from competing against older and bigger opponents.

“I compare myself to them and see where I can improve,” he said.

The Macksville marvel said he was lucky in that their pool was always open so he had plenty of prep with his team.

“We spread the training out,” he said.

“We do a hard week then an easy week and pace it out.”

Sutton is eyeing swim squads on the Gold Coast where they take their swimming “very seriously” as the next step in attaining his goal of swimming for Australia.

Life's a balancing act for Declan Sutton who fits studies and work around an exacting training regimen at the Macksville pool. Photo: Chris Knight.

For Kingscliff swimmer Olivia Sullivan, the trip to Adelaide was her first meet at national level.

Sullivan competed in five races: 50 metre backstroke , 100 metre backstroke , 200 metre backstroke, 50 metre freestyle, and 200 metre medley.

Tweed Regional Aquatic Centre Coach Gavin Urquhart said he was surprised that Sullivan did so well.

“A lot of swimmers have missed out on training sessions due to Covid and border closures,” Mr Urquhart said.

“There were a lot of holes in her prep, she only had eight weeks training for the strongest competition in Australia so she did pretty well considering.”

Coach Urquhart said Sullivan is a talented athlete.

“She is a late bloomer which is good, she’ll be in the sport for some time.

“We threw everything at her at this competition and now she’ll come home and know what to work on for the next one,” Urquhart said.