Australian Age Championships

We arrived at Melbourne Airport at 1:30pm, excited to be off to Nationals at last. We had trained all year for this event and it was about to show. Our parents greeted us as we landed at Adelaide Airport, they had driven since 5am to be there ahead of us. Then it was off to the pool, to pick up accreditation and our first session in the new pool. The atmosphere was amazing, and the complex housed two 50m Pools, this was to be the stage where we would perform for the next 6 days. After the session we headed off to our apartments at ?SeaVista? which were situated right on the beach. Tea that night was at the local hotel, all were eager for a good feed.

Two one hour training sessions on Sunday left plenty of time to explore the beach, check out the shops and relax in preparation for the big 6 days ahead of us. A delivery of Easter biscuits was made to each unit by Andrea Santi who had been baking tirelessly all day, Thanks Andrea!

Day One of competition had arrived, everybody was set and ready to go, the debut swimmers were about to experience an opportunity they would never forget. To kick it off was Caitlin Eccles in the first race ? 200m fly. She was in the first heat out in lane 0 and with a season P.b she scraped into the final 10^th. Andrew Jarvis also made a final in his 100m fly, ranked 9^th, Andy did an awesome swim, taking off about a second. Dylan Sadler was right by Andrew in the 100m fly, competing in his first Nationals, he swam an even race finishing just over his P.B. Natalie Vercher also competed in the 100m fly, doing a great swim just over her P.b. Jesse May had 200m Breast, just before the race had begun his goggles snapped, but like a true seasoned campaigner he quickly ran and got his spares. The adrenaline was pumping as he flew down the first 50m and finishing the race with a small P.b. Back to the apartments to relax and get ready for finals that night. Caitlin and Andrew swam just over their heat times, both finishing 10^th, Great job guys.

Day Two of competition came around and was a little disappointing with no finalists but still a fantastic effort from everyone who competed that day. Kristy Dellios swam just over her time in the 100 back to be first emergency. Andrew swam 200m back, just over his time to finish with second emergency. Kristy and Marko both swam in the grueling 400 I.M, Natalie Vercher and Jesse May swam in the 200 back and 200 I.M respectively, and Dylan May competed in the 100m Breast, all swimmers swimming just over their P.bs but still made us very proud. After heading back to the apartments it was off to the beach for a dip and fun in the sun. Alicia became very well liked as she was in charge of organizing everyone?s massages.

Day Three saw Jordan front up for his first race, a little over his time. Then came Natalie and Andrew in the 100m free, Natalie swam her time to qualify 8^th for the final, and Andrew in a hotly contested field swam a nice P.b finishing 16^th. Jesse had the 200m back and swam a 2 second P.b to improve his ranking to 20^th. Back to Sea Vista for a rest before the excitement of coming in for finals to see Nat and our 2 relay teams. In the 100m free final Natalie swam well to improve her heat time and finished in 7^th position. Then onto the relays where both teams swam well under their entry times and our debut swimmers Mark Evans and Kelcey Brian swam out of their skin both achieving P.bs of more than a second.

Day Four ? a busy day of competition ahead as 8 out of the 12 swimmers were competing. Natalie and Andrew both swam P.bs in their 50m free, with Natalie narrowly missing out on the final and Andrew scraping into the final with a 3 way dead heat 8^th, 9^th and 10^th. Jesse May had his 200m fly and swimming a great P.b of 2 seconds. Marko had a big day with the 100m fly and 200 I.M swimming a little over in both of his races. Kristy Dellios had her 200 I.M just swimming outside her time. Jackie Santi and Petar Shelev had to wait until day 4 for their first national swims. Jackie swam very nicely to record a small P.b and Petar blew everyone away with a 2 second P.b in his 100m back. In a race that Jordan seems to chip away time every time he competes in it his national 400 I.M swim was no exception and he again recorded a personal best. A great day swimming, though only one finalist and one relay. Andrew stepped up to the block for his final for the 50m free, he smashed it achieving another P.b and finishing 6^th. History was made in this race with a three way dead heat for 1^st. The girls 4x200 free relay swam a really good race with Caitlin and Jackie enjoying taking off 3 seconds from their P.B.

Day Five was lead off by Kristy Dellios, swimming well in her blue ribbon event finishing 5^th. Andrew?s 100m back saw him ranked 1^st for the final, with a good P.b and providing great excitement. Caitlin had 2 swims, achieving a P.b in the 100m fly and just over her P.b in the 200 I.M. Jordo was just over his time in the 200 Breast and Jesse did a second and a half P.b in his 100 Breast. Fish and Chips for lunch as it was Good Friday, not for those in finals of course, and a relax before heading back for an exciting night of finals. Kristy managed to finish 8^th in her final, giving her all. Andrew provided one of the highlights of the meet winning a bronze medal in the 100m back with another small P.b. Well done Kristy and Andrew!

Andrew showed great love to Aiden when they were fishing. An object had come right up to the beach, their first instinct was shark. But before you could say abracadabra Andrew had raced out of the water to find he had forgotten Aiden. They later realized it was only a dolphin.

Valentina managed to crack everyone up with her many stories, and captured everyone?s interest with her photos of the dolphin cruise? We later found out that the photo of the dolphin was not real.

Final Day rolled around; it was hard to believe it was coming to an end. Marko first up with his 200m fly, showed a courageous performance, swimming just over his Pb. Jordan swam a great 200 I.M with a small P.b and Natalie pulled out a top swim in the 200 free to qualify 6^th for the final in a personal best time. Jarvo did a P.b in his 200m free but not quite enough to make the final. Jackie swam right on her time in the 200m breast, while Jesse May produced a huge 7 second P.B in his final national swim, to finish 18^th. That evening saw us come back in for Natalie?s 200m free final and the 18/under medley relays. In a very fast final Nat took more time off her P.b to finish in 9^th place. The boys and girls relay teams swam great, the girls taking out equal first in the first heat, and the boys making a top 10 finish. Both taking big chunks off their entry times.

Time to celebrate a great week, off we went to Laser Tag where we played 2 hours of unlimited games. I think its fair to say Marko, Tim and Dylan dominated us all and we were all surprised at the shooting talents of Ryan Evans. A lot of fun was had, and we were officially on break. Parents went to a sports bar the only place open at 10pm at night for dinner, where they had the most amazing gourmet pizzas.

I?d like to thank everyone who attended, especially the parents who dedicate all of their times so we can achieve our goals. Ivana, Chloe, Aiden, Rebecca, John and Irene for being the loudest cheer squad there. And a big Thank you to Alicia, for organizing our races and massages and Tim for recording all our races and keeping us motivated, and both of you for looking after us all week, you guys were the best Team Managers. Also to Paul, we couldn?t have made it there without him and the hard work really paid off.