Smith siblings bring home a haul of medals from NENW Short Course Championships

Narrabri Stingrays Swimming Club was represented at the Swimming New England and North West Short Course Championships event at the Armidale UNE pool on Saturday and Sunday by Smith siblings Daniel and Ava.

The brother and sister duo enjoyed another successful weekend as they combined for three gold medals, six silver medals and five bronze medals.

They also achieved a combined 10 personal best times, and Daniel was named the 16-years-and-over boys’ champion while Ava finished third in the 15-years girls’ overall standings.

Daniel ended the weekend having won three events, placed second in three more and third in two others.

His first event on Saturday was the 100-metre freestyle race, in which he placed second and achieved a 2.19-second PB. He then finished fourth in the 100-metre individual medley before ending the day with a second-place finish and a 2.69-second PB in the 200-metre freestyle.

The Stingray medalled again to start Sunday’s action and it was another silver, this time in the 50-metre backstroke. He then earned his first gold medal in the 50-metre breaststroke before finishing fourth in the 50-metre fly and setting a 0.15-second PB.

Daniel then claimed gold medals in back-to-back races as he won the 50-metre breaststroke and 100-metre backstroke, and then recorded his best PB of the weekend when he shaved 5.69 seconds in the 200-metre breaststroke event, in which he swam his way to another bronze medal.

The Stingray’s final event of the weekend was the 50-metre freestyle race and he earned another third-placed finish to return home with eight medals.

Ava’s weekend kicked off with the 100-metre freestyle on Saturday and she finished fourth in that race before earning her first medal as she placed third in the 100-metre individual medley. She also earned a narrow PB in that race. Her third and final race on Saturday was the 200-metre freestyle, in which she placed fourth, and she went one better in the 50-metre backstroke on Sunday morning as she picked up a bronze medal and set a 0.92-second PB.

Ava then achieved her first silver medal of the weekend in the 50-metre butterfly event and she also swam her way to a 0.69-second PB. She narrowly missed out on a medal in the 50-metre breaststroke race but achieved another PB in that event as she shaved 1.08 seconds off her best time.

The Stingray then finished off the event with a trio of medals as she placed second in the 100-metre backstroke and the 50-metre freestyle and then third in the 100-metre butterfly.

She also secured her sixth PB of the weekend in that butterfly race, and it was her best across the two days as she cut her time by 1.55 seconds.

Ava returned home from Armidale with six medals.