Wee Waa Swimming Club young guns return home with medals and PBs from Coonamble and Kootingal carnivals

Seven youngsters from the Wee Waa Swimming Club travelled to compete at Coonamble Swimming Club’s 2023/24 season qualifying carnival on Sunday and they all returned home having achieved some excellent results.

Edward Carolan, Emma and James Gleeson, Jaxon Gray, Alexander and Florence Melton and Tabitha Shearer were in action at the event and they impressively combined for nine wins, two second-place finishes and seven third-place finishes.

The six swimmers who were eligible to do so all achieved at least one new personal best time, with the group combining for a remarkable 20 PBs in total.

The eldest of the seven Wee Waa swimmers on the day was 13-year-old Jaxon Gray, who competed in eight events and raced to podium finishes in all of them. He prevailed in all four of the 50-metre strokes, placed second in the 100-metre backstroke, and finished third in the 100-metre freestyle, the 100-metre breaststroke and the 200-metre individual medley. He also achieved six new personal best times, the largest of which was 2.35 seconds in the 100-metre free.

The youngest of the seven Wee Waa swimmers on the day was six-year-old Alexander Melton, who had quite a successful carnival as he won all three of the events he entered, which included the 17-metre freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.

Ten-year-old Edward Carolan had a busy day as he competed in eight events. It was a memorable one for him as he won his 50-metre freestyle and 50-metre dash for cash events and placed third in his 50-metre butterfly and breaststroke events. He also set three new personal best times on the day.

Fellow 10-year-old teammate James Gleeson lined up in seven events at the carnival and continued to show great improvement in the pool. He narrowly missed out on a bronze in the 50-metre breaststroke as he ended up ranked fourth, and he achieved five personal best times, the largest of which was 5.62 seconds in the 100-metre breaststroke.

Emma Gleeson also had a brilliant day in the pool. The 11-year-old took part in five events and set personal best times in three of them, including 6.86 seconds in the 100-metre freestyle and 6.18 seconds in the 50-metre butterfly.

Nine-year-old duo Florence Melton and Tabitha Shearer were also among the medals at the Coonamble carnival as they both continued to shine.

Florence competed in five events and medalled in two of them as she placed second in 50-metre backstroke and third in 50-metre breaststroke. She narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the 50-metre freestyle as she ended up fourth, and she set a PB in that event and the 50-metre butterfly.

Tabitha lined up in four events and she certainly excelled in the 50-metre freestyle, placing third in that event and also setting a 5.30-second PB.

Five of those seven swimmers were in action the previous weekend as Jaxon, Emma, James, Alexander and Florence all travelled to compete at Kootingal Moonbi Swimming Club’s two-day qualifying meet on Saturday and Sunday, January 6 and 7.

The talented Wee Waa Swimming Club group combined for four gold medals, nine second-place finishes, and two third-place finishes and they also achieved 20 personal best times.

Jaxon was in action in seven events across the weekend and remarkably swam to first or second-place finishes and achieved PBs in all seven. He won his 50-metre breaststroke and backstroke events and his 100-metre backstroke event, and placed second in his 50-metre freestyle and butterfly and 100-metre backstroke and individual medley races. The largest of his seven PBs was an impressive 5.80 seconds in the 50-metre breaststroke.

Alex lined up in three events and earned two podium finishes as he won his 25-metre backstroke event and placed third in 25-metre freestyle.

Florence competed in five events and placed second in two of them, including her 50-metre freestyle and backstroke races. The best of her three PBs was 3.64 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle.

James excelled across the weekend as he took part in eight events and placed in four of them while setting six new PBs. He finished second in his 50-metre breaststroke, 100-metre breaststroke and 100-metre individual medley events and placed third in 50-metre butterfly. His personal best times were quite outstanding as well, including 56.71 seconds in the 100-metre individual medley, 32.89 seconds in 50-metre breaststroke, 18.69 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle and 11.47 seconds in the 50-metre backstroke.

Emma took part in six events across the weekend and impressively she set PBs in all of them. There were some massive ones too, including 24.45 seconds in the 100-metre individual medley, 22.86 seconds in 50-metre breaststroke and 14.37 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle.

Wee Waa Swimming Club is excited for the return of their weekly swim club events from this Thursday, January 18, following the Christmas and New Year holiday break. Swim club will run until Thursday, March 7.

The Wee Waa club’s 2023/24 season will wrap up with the club championships and annual general meeting day sometime in March, with a date soon to be advised.