Australian National Age - Coaches Wrap

Throughout the first week of the school holidays and over the Easter Long Weekend, four Ravenswood Swimming Club members competed at the Australian Age Championships held at the South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Adelaide.

Kirrily Woods, Benjamin Kim, Daniel Lawrence and Consuela Zhang.

This was the first nationals for both Consuela and Daniel

Landing in Adelaide on Sunday, Cameron and Kirrily took advantage of the pre-meet training session at the competition venue to familiarize ourselves with the venue and to test the water.

Kirrily completed in the Multi-Class Championships which were held over the first two days of competition with a successful 3 personals best swims out of 4 races.

The MC Championships were all timed finals with races in the morning and evening

Placing just outside the top 10 (12th) in two of her races and improving her ranking and FINA points.

50 Freestyle - 1.62 sec PB (21st)

50 Breaststroke - (12th)

50 Butterfly - 4.01 second PB (12th)

50 Backstroke - 0.59 PB (18th)

During the MC Championships Cameron also ran a couple of pre-meet training sessions with Daniel in the Marion Outdoor pool while the competition venue was pre-occupied.

Wednesday was the start of the able-bodied athletes to which Ben and Daniel didn’t start racing until Friday, allowing us to have a couple of training session in the competition venue to experience the sheer volume of athletes in the warmup pool to prepare for race day.

Good Friday had Ben and Daniel lining up for the 50 Freestyle with Ben’s swim just off PB but achieved for the first time no breathing at all in the 50. Daniel shaving 0.4 off his pb and being narrowly touched out on the finish for a heat win. The boys finished 42nd and 41st respectfully in their age groups.

Saturday brought Daniel’s 50m Backstroke with a strong race and skills to be refined he swam 0.06 over his personal best placing him in 30th.

Easter Sunday proved to bring the treats. Daniel’s 50m Butterfly shaving 0.1 off his personal best with a swim he walked away from not satisfied. To then be told he was in equal 21st place and requiring a SWIM OFF for a potential spot in the B FINAL.

Daniel refocused and prepared to correct the heat swim and win the swim off. The swim hosted 4 swimmers aiming for the one spot in the final.

Daniel took this opportunity to not only win the swim off but shaved a further 0.6 off his heat swim.

After the win Daniel was confirmed a place in the B FINAL to which he swam slightly slower but placed 3rd, with an overall ranking of 13th in Australia.

Consuela came in for her pre-meet swim and to soak up the atmosphere ready for her EASTER Monday race.

Consuela’s 50m Breaststroke was a hotly contested heat which saw her just missing a pb but a very good first nationals experience. Consuela’s swim placed her 28th in the country.

Overall a very successful meet for the team and we are all prepared to be bigger, better and stronger for 2023.