Country SC Championships

Over the weekend of the 22 & 23 of August 2015 450 athletes converged on the newly build Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre to compete in the Victorian Country Short Course Championships. The Kilmore Swimming Club sent a team of seven swimmers, Alexandra Roberts, Madeleine Rhodes, Tamara Bess, Dylan Cornish, Jay Finn, Nicholas Langdon and Lynton Pyle, three coaches, Jennifer Lonie, Noelene Pyle and Lynton Pyle and one official, Derek Bess.

The swimmers were over joyed at having a full 25m warmup pool available, “it’s great to see these championships held in such an outstanding venue” Captain Jay Finn stated “the competition pool, the warmup pool, the blocks, the timing systems, everything is world class, I think we will be in for some fast racing this weekend”. Jay was not wrong, all of the swimmers swam extremely well against some very tough competition, all swimming on or faster than their previous best. “Some of our swimmers have been training five plus sessions per week since May in the lead up to this competition” Performance Coach Lynton Pyle said “They have put in the hard work and it is great to see it paying off for them”.

The Kilmore team finished in 20th position over all out of 35 teams a strong effort from a small club considering they are racing against giants like Traralgon, Warrnambool, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Wodonga. “The level of competition at Country Championships has risen and we are looking to rise along with it” Head Coach Jennifer Lonie said. “We are looking to move up the ranks in the next few years and have a strong and dedicated team with a lot of new and enthusiastic swimmers coming through the ranks”.

Over four sessions at the Championships the swimmers produced the below results;

Session One:
Alex 200 Free – 2:26.49
Dylan 100 Free – 59.43
Tamara 100 Free – 1:09.39
Madeleine 100 Free – 1:05.83
Alex 100 Back – 1:16.85
Dylan 100 Breast – 1:25.26
Madeleine 100 Breast – 1:29.84
Jay 100 Free – 58.66
Nick 100 Free – 56.81

Session Two:
Alex 200 IM – 2:47.54

Session Three:
Dylan 400 Free – 4:48.94
Alex 100 Free – 1:04.31
Dylan 200 Free – 2:12.91
Nick 100 Fly – 1:02.63
Alex 100 Breast – 1:32.85
Tamara 100 Back – 1:16.41

Session Four:
Alex 100 Fly – 1:13.32
Lynton 100 IM – 1:09.70