Karla’s Swim Team trio impresses at Orana qualifying meet

Karla’s Swim Team made an impressive return to the pool on Sunday when a small group of the team’s swimmers headed to Dubbo for the first carnival of the 2019-20 season.

The event was the Orana Aquatic Swimming Club 2019 Qualifying meet.

Lilly Burford, Toby Michell-Smith and Harry Bennett all swam exceptionally on the day in their first hitouts of the campaign.

Lilly had an amazing day swimming huge personal best times in all of the six events that she entered.

In some races she dropped over 10 seconds off her best time.

Toby looked strong in his return to the pool on Sunday.

He won the 50m freestyle with a personal best time of 28.79, shaving exactly one second off his seed time.

That time was a meet record and also qualified Toby for the NSW Country Championships in Sydney in February.

Toby also picked up second in the 50m breaststroke and finished the day with four personal best times.

Harry had a flying start to his racing season, again showing his competitive spirit as he came away from the carnival with five wins, two seconds and a third-placed finish.

He set two meet records on the day, one in the 50m butterfly and the other in the 50m backstroke.

Karla’s Swim Team coach Karla Carruthers told The Courier that the trio impressed her.

“We had a bit of a break over winter, the kids keeping fit and staying strong playing winter sports,” she said.

“So we went to Dubbo as a little pre-season hit out and training session to set us up for the summer. Considering the time out of the water my kids blew me away.

Looking confident and comfortable in the water we came away from Dubbo with a surprisingly very successful meet.

Next up for Karla’s Swim Team swimmers is a carnival in Tamworth at Scully Park on Sunday, November 17.