Nunawading Swimming Club: 119-strong team claims 42 gold medals, 37 silver and 37 bronze at Victorian Age Championships.

The Victorian Age Championships saw the state’s best swimmers go head-to-head over six days of intense racing. Nunawading nabbed a remarkable 42 gold medals, 37 silver and 37 bronze.

Nunawading swimmers at the Victorian Age Championships

The 2018 Victorian Age Championships saw the state’s best swimmers go head-to-head over six days of intense racing and the combined efforts of Nunawading’s 119-strong team took home 42 gold medals, 37 silver and 37 bronze.

At the end of the six days of competition, Nunawading was named Victorian Age Championship Club, topping the points score with 3598 points, 1516 points ahead of second placed Vicentre.

Five of Nunawading’s swimmers were named age group champions for the meet: Une Geisler (Boys 11yrs/under) who was awarded the Henry (Hicks) B. Ive award for the best 11 years and under swimmer over all strokes; Evan Chee (Boys 12 years), Kayla Costa (Girls 16 years), Brendon Smith (Boys 17-18 years) and Sophie Caldwell (Girls 17-18 years), who was awarded the Judy Joy Davies award for the highest aggregate score over all strokes for female 17/18 years.

One of the most swims of the meet came from Keilani Trewavis, who led from start to finish in the girls 16 years 400m individual medley final to take gold, touching the wall in a time of 4:57.76, more 12 seconds ahead of the silver medallist.

Keilani also took out the girls 16 years 200m breaststroke final in 2:38.73, more than eight seconds ahead of the next placed Victorian swimmer.

The girls 12 years and under 4x50m medley relay team of Isabella Boyd, Isabella Walkenhorst, Joyceta Giri and Andrea Chow smashed an eight-year-old Victorian record by more than two seconds, taking home the gold medal in a first race of the second night.

Not to be outshone by their younger counterparts, the girls 18 and under 4x100m freestyle relay team finished the second night with a come-from-behind effort to secure gold.

In a fantastic swim, Julia Hawkins dived into the water some two seconds behind the leading Vicentre team, steadily closing the gap to overtake them in the last few strokes before touching the wall first just 0.4sec ahead. Kayla Costa, Sophie Caldwell and Taegen Coxhill were the other members of the team.

Matthew Temple and Julia Hawkins reigned supreme in the 50m and 100m freestyle events with Temple (Boys 17-18 years 50m and 100m freestyle) and Hawkins (Girls 17-18 years 50m and 100m freestyle) taking the gold medals.

Temple was also Nunawading’s most successful swimmer, taking home five individual gold medals.

Sophie Caldwell (Girls 17-18 years 400m freestyle) claimed the gold medal in the 400m freestyle by a whopping 8.63 seconds. Sophie went on to add another three gold medals to her tally, winning the 400m freestyle and the 100m/200m butterfly.

Ryan Bicknell claimed the breaststroke double, taking out the boys 16 years 100m/200m breaststroke crowns.

Jack Gurrie fought all the way to the wall in a closely contested boys 15 years 400m individual medley final and was victorious by less than a second.

William Petric (Boys 13 years 200m breaststroke) and Misha Wierzbowski (Girls 13 years 200m breaststroke) ensured the Nunawading team was a force to be reckoned with, taking out both the male and female breaststroke titles in the 13yrs age group.

Nunawading Swimming Club competitors to achieve gold medals at the meet:

Une Geisler- Boys 11yrs/u 100 brst (1.21.04), 200 brst (2.59.38) & 100 fly (1.12.20)

Sophie Caldwell- Girls 16-18yrs 800 free (9.04.31), Girls 17-18yrs 100 fly (1.02.84), 200 fly (2.19.89) & 400 free (4.23.67)

Matthew Temple- Boys 17-18yrs 100 fly (53.65), 200 fly (2.02.10), 50 free (23.66), 100 free (51.06) & 200 free (1.52.46)

Julia Hawkins- Girls 17-18yrs 50 free (26.26) & 100 free (56.75)

Nathan Tran- Boys 15yrs 100 fly (57.94)

Kayla Costa- Girls 16yrs 100 fly (1.00.83), 200 fly (2.14.36) & 400 free (4.24.04)

Brendon Smith- Boys 16-18yrs 1500 free (15.57.99) & Boys 17-18yrs 400 free (4.03.03)

Anna Li- Girls 15yrs 200 brst (2.38.82)

Keilani Trewavis- Girls 16yrs 100 brst (1.15.03), 200 brst (2.38.73) & 400IM (4.57.76)

Ryan Bicknell- Boys 16yrs 100 brst (1.05.75), 200 brst (2.21.37)

Jack Gurrie- Boys 15yrs 400IM (4.43.05)

Asaph Hoi- Boys 15yrs 100 brst (1.06.69)

Andrea Chow- Girls 12yrs 100 brst (1.18.37), 200 brst (2.50.17) & 100 free (1.01.87)

Alex Kirchner- Boys 15yrs 50 free (24.27)

Yanning Zhang- Boys 13yrs 200IM (2.17.93)

Nathan Tran- Boys 15yrs 200 fly

Evan Chee- Boys 12yrs 100 fly (1.05.25) & 200 fly (2.28.88)

William Petric – Boys 13yrs 200 brst (2.37.53)

Misha Wierzbowski – Girls 13yrs 200 brst (2.47.35)

Girls 12yrs/under 4 x 50 medley relay-Isabella Boyd, Isabella Walkenhorst, Joyceta Giri & Andrea Chow (Victorian record)

Girls 12yrs/u 4 x 50 free relay- Andrea Chow, Joyceta Giri, Isabella Boyd & Lucy Webster

Girls 18yrs/under 4 x 100 free relay- Kayla Costa, Sophie Caldwell, Taegen Coxhill & Julia Hawkins

Boys 16/u 4 x 100 medley relay ”A” team- Alex Kirchner, Ryan Bicknell, Nathan Tran & James McBride