Harry Bennett reaches new heights at the 2020 NSW Senior State Championships

Local swimming sensation Harry Bennett continues to impress and his latest achievements have blown just about everybody away.

The 14-year-old Narrabri boy recently travelled to Sydney where he competed at the Swimming NSW Senior State Age Championships from Saturday, December 12, to Thursday, December 17.

Harry, the son of Garry and Anne Bennett, qualified for nine events, all of which he swam across six days of competition at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

He qualified for finals in five of those events, set personal best times in eight of them, and most impressively swam his way to two nationals times which earned him a spot on the NSW team which will compete at the 2021 Australian Age Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast in April.

Harry started swimming competitively at age 11 and currently competes for Wee Waa Swimming Club, which he represented at the Senior State Age Championships.

He is trained by Narrabri’s Karla Carruthers who is the head coach at Karla’s Swim Team.

Carruthers, who has trained Harry for the past three years, told The Courier that he rose to the occasion at the 2020 Swimming NSW Senior State Age Championships.

“This was his first Senior State Champs, so it was pretty good to get to five finals in his first ever go at it,” Carruthers said.

“He’s never even swum in a meet where he’s had to do heats and finals before, that was his first time ever.

“[He adapted to that] really well.

“He was nervous early on but he always controls that really well.

“Being a week-long event it’s big mentally, and we prepared in the weeks before it so he knew that his energy levels would go up and down.

“He swam so well all week.

“It gives us both lots of confidence going forward, and we are ready to go back next year already.

“Also, now he’ll even go through first in some events for Country Champs which is in February.”

Harry excelled in his individual medley events at the Senior State Age Championships, qualifying for the National Championships in both 200-metre and 400-metre individual medleys.

In the 400-metre event he even smashed his entry time by 17.18 seconds, swimming a 4:56.93 to place sixth in the state.

Coach Carruthers said that highlighted how fit Harry is, and said that it was a reflection of his dedication to the sport.

“I’m thrilled with the two nationals times,” Carruthers said.

“I can’t believe it and I’m lost for words because I’m very, very excited.

“We’ve been training for them, that was sort of our goal.

“He was really excited. When you work really hard for something and you achieve it, it makes it all worthwhile.

“You have to be disciplined to train for swimming, you can’t just do it once a week, you have to do it every day and he does that.

“To achieve something like his 400 IM time it comes down to training, you have to be fit and you have to be good across all four strokes as well.

“You can’t do a race like that if you’re not conditioned for it, there’s a lot of background fitness work that takes years to get you ready.”

Harry swam in two events on day one of the Swimming NSW Senior State Age Championships on Saturday, December 12, and qualified for the finals in both.

His first event was the boys’ 13-14-years 200-metre individual medley. His entry time for that event was 2:24.22 and he smashed that by 4.32 seconds, swimming a 2:19.90 which saw him qualify for not only the final, but also the National Championships.

That time placed Harry fourth in his heat and eighth overall, then in his first state final he finished ninth with a 2:21.58.

In the boys’ 13-14-years 100-metre butterfly, Harry swam a 1:01.06 to drop 2.11 seconds off his previous best time. He placed second in his heat in that event and fifth overall to qualify for another final.

In that final he swam a 1:01.71 to place seventh.

On Monday, December 14, the Narrabri swimmer competed in two more events.

The first of those was the boys’ 13-14-years 100-metre freestyle. He set a 1.20-second personal best time in that event with a 56.68 which saw him finish fourth in his heat but 12th overall, as he missed out on a finals spot by less than a fifth of a second.

In his second event of the day, and his fourth at the championships, Harry qualified for his third final. In the boys’ 13-14-years 200-metre butterfly event, he placed fourth in his heat with a 2:19.11 which placed him fifth overall.

He then bettered that time with a 2:17.44 in the final to finish fifth and set a 4.89-second personal best time.

On Tuesday, December 15, Harry competed in two more events.

In the boys’ 13-14-years 50-metre freestyle he swam a 26.17 which saw him place eighth in his heat and 17th overall while shaving 0.32 off his previous best time.

Then in the boys’ 13-14-years breaststroke, Harry swam a 1:17.79 to place eighth in his heat and 32nd overall.

On Wednesday, December 16, the Narrabri boy competed in two more events. He set two more personal best times and qualified for another final.

In the boys’13-14-years backstroke, Harry swam a 1:05.85 to shave 0.60 off his previous best time. He placed seventh in his heat and 13th overall in that event.

In the next event, Harry achieved something quite remarkable. In his boys’ 13-14-years 400-metre individual medley heat, the Narrabri young gun smashed his previous best time by 14.04 seconds, swimming a 5:00.07 to place fourth in his heat and fifth overall.

That qualified him for his fourth final in which he raced to his first sub-five-minute time in that event. Harry recorded a 4:56.93 to place sixth, smash his entry time by 17.18 seconds and achieve a second National Championships time.

Harry’s last event was the only one he competed in on Thursday, December 17.

That was the boys’ 13-14-years 200-metre freestyle. In his heat, he swam a 2:04.85. That 3.31-second personal best time earned him a fourth-placed heat finish and 10th overall which qualified him for his fifth final of the championships.

However, Harry and his family had to return home on Thursday evening so his finals spot went to the next fastest finisher.

Harry now turns his attention to the Swimming NSW Country Championships in February.

“He is going after medals at Country Champs,” coach Carruthers said.