Winter Season Plus
Winter season officially started on the 1st of May and is traditionally the short course season, however, this year there were a few huge long course events interspersed in the season.
We kicked off short course with the SMNE Winter Championships on 1st and 2nd June where we had 54 swimmers compete in 235 individual events and 12 relays. Our amazing team earned 6 Gold, 14 Silver and 20 Bronze medals and came 3rd in the overall point score.
No sooner did we think we were in winter when the Swimming Australia Trials were held 10th to 15th June in Brisbane. This was the selection event for the “big one” – Summer Olympics & Paralympics 2024 in Paris. We had 5 of our talented seniors compete in 12 events over the 6 tough days of intense competition with Sam Higgs qualifying for the B final in the 200 individual medley. It was an amazing experience for all our swimmers competing against Olympians and Paralympians from across the globe.
Back to short course on the 19th-21st July where we had 35 swimmers compete in 143 individual events at the NSW SC Metropolitan championships winning 7 Gold, 10 Silver, and 11 Bronze medals finishing in 10th place.
Shortly after, five of our Piranhas headed back up the highway to the Gold Coast for the 2024 School Sport National championships in July/August to compete against the best of the best in school swimming across Australia. Lachlan Davies, Emmy Hill, Hannah Huisman, Gemma Sellick and Amelie Swann, enjoyed marvellous Queensland weather conditions and between them enjoyed 17 podium finishes.
Next major event was Senior State age on 23rd-25th August, where we had 39 of our seniors compete in 142 individual events and 14 relays earning 8 Gold, 7 Silver and 6 Bronze medals finishing 8th the final point score.
Short Course Junior State followed a couple of weeks later in September where our small team of 7 competed in 19 individual events and 3 relays. All swimmers swam a huge percentage of PBs and our relay girls fought hard taking out 4th place in 2 of the relays. Congratulations to Emmy Hill for taking out the silver medal in the 12 years 50 Butterfly.
The 15th of September saw 19 of our junior swimmers compete in the inaugural SMNE Olympic Dreams meet under our temporary country flag of New Zealand. The swimmers competed in 100 individual events culminating in the final Skins events (4 elimination rounds) which were so much fun to watch. Huge congratulations to Chloe Gutel who took out the 11-12 years girls Skins event.
Short course season ended on Sunday 29th September with the SC National Championships taking place in Adelaide. We had 8 swimmers compete in 22 individual heats, 15 Finals and 1 relay event. The PB rate was enormous with everyone swimming multiple PBs. Congratulations to Gemma Sellick who took out the Bronze medal in the MC 50m Backstroke.