Kilmore Swimming Club Kilmore Swimming Club
On the weekend of the 18th of March the Kilmore Swimming Club sent a small team of nine swimmers to the annual Swimming Victoria All Juniors competition held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
After qualifying in the top five of their age group at the District heats in February, Kilmore swimmers Isobel Porter, Somaiya Harriden, Alana Cardamone, Niamh Ireland, Alesha McIntosh, Emilie Cardamone, Caiden Xiang, Mackay Harriden and Alexander (Alex) Killender represented the Kilmore Swimming Club at the competition. Held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on the 18-19 March the competition brings together the fastest 8 to 14 year olds from country Victoria.
All of the Kilmore swimmers swam exceptionally well with most swimming personal bests in each of the four strokes and only just missing out on places in the finals. Somaiya, Alesha and Alex all made it through to the finals on the second day.
Ranked fourth going into the 50 freestyle final Somaiya was focused on improving her position. After Exploding off the blocks and breaking out strong, Somaiya powered down the pool, surging towards the finish and touching in a new PB time of 31.18, placing her second on the podium.
Alesha qualified for two finals the first was the 50 fly, swimming a strong swim Alesha finished just off her semi-final time with a 33.60. Next up was the 50 free, after swimming a PB of 29.87 and going under the 30 second barrier for the first time, Alesha was focused on duplicating her effort to swim under 30 for a second time. Pushing hard right from the start Alesha gave it everything, storming home in the last 15m stopping the clock at 29.35, another PB! Alesha finished in equal third place on the podium alongside Caydence Bezzinam from Traralgon.
Alex, an S10 multiclass swimmer qualified for three finals at the competition. First up was the 50 backstroke, Alex exploded off the wall and didn’t let up until he reached the other end. Touching the wall first and posting a new PB time of 40.90, Alex placed 3rd on the podium after points were allocated. Next up was the 50 breast, Alex had some strong competition in this race, stroke for stroke down the pool Alex pushed for the wall just touching first by 0.33! Alex placed 2nd on the podium after points were allocated. Last up was Alex’s favourite the 50 free. Consistently increasing his lead from the start Alex finished in a time of 34.20, 6.11 second in front of second place and again on the podium for 3rd after points allocation.
“The team is going from strength to strength”, head coach Jennifer Lonie said, “we are at the end of a long season, to get these results now is fantastic and really a testament to how hard the swimmers are working in training”.
