2006/2007 Presentation Evening

A mixture of new and well known names took home awards from our Annual Presentation Evening held on Saturday.

For the first time, Mitchell Burt was awarded the Michael Rossek Trophy as the highest placed Junior Boy in the Graded Races Pointscore while Amber Johnson received the Ronald Exley Trophy for the highest placed Junior Girl for the fifth time.

Taysha Wilson was presented with The Jack Smart Encouragement Award after steadily improving over the season and the Relay Competition title was successfully defended by the "Swimmers" (Dylan Baker, Anthony Ventra, David Wang, Nathan Legge, Mitchell Burt) after easily winning their second title.

Peter Johnston won the Senior Handicap for a record equalling sixth year while in our Winter Season Anthony Ventra and Belinda Sloane won the male and female Graded Pointscore competitions - both their first competition wins. Anthony Ventra also took home the Lions Club Award for Clubmanship.

In one of the closest ever finishes to the Champion of Champions Competition, Brittany Johnson finished just 15 points ahead of Peter Johnston to win the competition for the fourth time.

Learn to Swim instructors were recognised again this year for their efforts over the season. Our Austswim qualified instructors were presented with an Instructor's hat to thank them for their work running the program.

Four awards were presented to members of Merrylands Swimming Squad for their efforts at Swimming Training throughout the season. All four swimmers were first time recipients of the Coach's Awards with Angela Guaricci, Belinda Sloane, David Wang and Dylan Baker all taking home a club beanie.

The night was very enjoyable and those people that stayed after the presentation had a good time.

Thank you to all the people who helped organise the presentation and who helped throughout the season.

You can find the season results in the Club Races section and the full list of other awards presented on the night in the Presentation section.

See Also
  • Presentation Evening

  • Graded Pointscore Results

  • Championship Results

  • Senior Handicap Results

  • Relay Competition Results
  • Champion of Champions Results
  • Junior Excellence Award Recipients
  • Feature: The History of The Graded Pointscore
  • Feature: The History of The Senior Handicap
  • Introducing JX

    The new Australian Junior Excellence Program (JX) recognises, rewards and encourages junior swimmers who, through their development of aquatic skills and fitness, achieve a high standard of swimming excellence.

    Under the Program, swimmers aged from 9 to 13 years who accomplish times set by Swimming Australia qualify at Gold, Silver, Bronze or Green standard, depending on their best performance/s during the season.

    For doing so, the qualifiers receive special recognition by way of:
    • a distinctive JX cap (9 & 10 year-olds) or a special JX shirt (11 to 13 year-olds)

    • a JX certificate of achievement signed by the National Youth Coach and Grant Hackett the captain of the Australian Swim Team

    • a JX motivational poster featuring elite Australian swimmers

    • a poster depicting the local athlete development pathway

    • publication of their name on the Swimming Australia website

    Our club's first JX qualifiers will be announced and presented with their awards at this year's Presentation Evening on Saturday, 26th May, 2007.

    For more information on the Australian Junior Excellence Program, see the Development section of our website.


    See Also
  • Club & Swimmer Development

  • Presentation Evening

  • Swimming Australia - Australian Junior Excellence Program
  • Training Moves to Wentworthville

    Swimming Training moves to Wentworthville Swimming Centre next week.

    Training Times will be adjusted slightly from May 14 and are detailed on the Training Schedule page here.

    Note that there is no training for the Sharks on Tuesdays or Thursdays and no training for Dolphins on Thursdays.

    There will be no pool sessions held during July while the pool is closed for maintenance and we will use this opportunity to give the swimmers a break.

    See Also
  • Training Schedule
  • The Senior Handicap

    The Senior Handicap is one of the tightest competitions of the summer season. As with the Graded Point Score, the competition is held every week of the summer season so swimming consistently is important. However strategy can also play a part in the competition.

    The Senior Handicap is held for swimmers aged 17 years and over and is the competition with the greatest potential for confusion among both rookie competitors and officials.

    The Handicap is the only competition held where the swimmers start the race at different times. Swimmers are seeded in races based on their entry time but are given a time handicap (which is based on their entry time). The slowest swimmer starts on ‘Go’ and the other swimmers start as their handicap numbers are called. Points are awarded based on placings in each heat, with 8 points for 1st place in a heat down to 1 point for 8th place.

    The staggered start leads to very close finishes with all the swimmers in a heat often separated by less than a second, really testing the Finish Judges and Recorders.

    As with the Graded Point Score, seed times are calculated based on the swimmers best time from their last three handicap races. So if a competitor swims faster than their seed time, the next week they will have a faster seed time and therefore a higher handicap. But there is a catch, if a swimmer beats their seed time by more than two seconds, they are disqualified and receive no points for the race. They also have to swim against that time the next week.

    If a competitor swims slower than their seed time three weeks in a row, then the following week their seed time will be slower and they will have a lower handicap. These weekly changes to the seed times, and as a result the swimmer's handicaps, mean that from one week to the next, swimmers may move around within their heat or even from one heat to another.

    With all of these variables, strategy can play a part in the competition. Do you go for the win in your heat and possibly risk disqualification or are you happy to settle for second or third this week? But whether you have a strategy or not, you still need to swim well each week. If you are looking for some tips, Glenda Wood is the person to ask. Just don't expect too much help, after all, she is still competing for the trophy herself each week.

    Did you know?
    • In the last 26 seasons, only 14 different swimmers have won the competition as many of them have won it on multiple occasions.


    • 6 swimmers have won the competition more than once. Glenda Wood, Amanda Smart, Margaret Edwards, Jim Hayes, Peter Johnston and Glen Stanford.


    • Glenda Wood has won the competition the most times, winning it on 6 occasions.


    • Peter Johnston has the longest winning streak, winning the competition 5 years in a row from 1999/2000 to 2003/04.


    • There has been 3 seasons where there was a tie for first place in the competition. In 1981/82 Glenda Wood and B. Taylor shared the trophy. 10 years later in 1991/92 the trophy was jointly awarded again, this time to Jim Hayes and Laurie Hamilton. In 1995/96, Amanda Smart and Michelle Hayes finished equal first.


    • The highest handicap this season was 28 seconds. Malcolm Bleeker had to swim off this time on 3 occasions.


    • The current Handicap Trophy was first awarded in 1980/81 and was donated by the J. Taylor Family.


    Past Winners
    1980/81 G. Pedley
    1981/82 Glenda Wood, B. Taylor
    1982/83 Glenda Wood
    1983/84 Glenda Wood
    1984/85 Amanda Smart
    1985/86 Margaret Edwards
    1986/87 Lyn Daly
    1987/88 L. Stephan
    1988/89 Graham Edwards
    1989/90 Jim Hayes
    1990/91 Jim Hayes
    1991/92 Laurie Hamilton, Jim Hayes
    1992/93 Amanda Smart
    1993/94 Margaret Edwards
    1994/95 Glenda Wood
    1995/96 Amanda Smart, Michelle Hayes
    1996/97 Michael Sutherland
    1997/98 Glenda Wood
    1998/99 Glenda Wood
    1999/2000 Peter Johnston
    2000/01 Peter Johnston
    2001/02 Peter Johnston
    2002/03 Peter Johnston
    2003/04 Peter Johnston
    2004/05 Glen Stanford
    2005/06 Glen Stanford


    See Also
  • Senior Handicap

  • Race By-Laws
  • Wentworthville Meet Results

    Merrylands swimmers won 16 medals at the Wentworthville Invitational Meet held on Sunday, 1st April at Wentworthville Swimming Centre.

    Our swimmers in the Boys 13yrs age group won the bulk of the medals, finishing 1-2 in all 4 events. Anthony Ventra finished 1st in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke with Mitchell Burt 2nd. But in the 50m Butterfly Mitchell turned the tables to finish 1st with Anthony 2nd.

    Peter Johnston won the club's other 4 gold medals, finishing 1st in the Open 100m Breaststroke and also winning the 16yrs & Over 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly.

    Amber Johnson won the club's remaining individual medals finishing 2nd in the 14yrs 50m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle and 3rd in the 13yrs & Over 200m Individual Medley.

    The club's final medal of the meet came in the 13-14yrs 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay where Anthony, Mitchell and Amber teamed with Belinda Sloane to take home the silver medal - Belinda's first ever swimming medal.

    Our other swimmers also swam well with a number of new personal best times swum at the meet.

    Congratulations to all our swimmers on their results. The full results are available here.

    Medal Tally

    Gold 8
    Silver 7
    Bronze 1

    See Also
  • Wentworthville Invitational Meet - Results
  • How do you rank?

    How did your performances at club during the summer season compare to those of other swimmers? Are you in the Top 10? Did you swim consistently through out the season or did you gradually improve?

    The 2006/2007 Season Rankings will give you the answers.

    Rankings are available for all events in 2 age categories; Open and 12 & Under.

    See the Club Races Results for the Top 10 and Full Lists.

    See Also
  • 2006/2007 Season Rankings - Open Top 10

  • Club Races Results
  • On the blocks for the Winter Season

    Our 2007 winter seson will begin on Saturday, 14th April, 2007 and this year will feature a new event.

    As usual the Mystery Medley and the Graded Races 800m & 1500m Freestyle will be on the program but this season will feature a new 25m Freestyle Sprint Challenge.

    Ever thought that you would be pretty good in a 25m race if you ever got the chance to swim one? Well the 25m Freestyle Sprint Challenge is your chance to prove it! It's just you and the other competitors against the clock to see who is the fastest over 25m Freestyle. There are no points involved but you will have bragging rights for the next 12 months, so go for it.

    If you do another sport during winter, don't worry, most weeks we are finished by 8am so you will have plenty of time to have a swim, so come and join us.

    The season will run for 5 weeks until the pool closes on May 13th.

    The Winter Season Program is available for download from the Club Races page and the Winter Race By-Laws are available on the Governing Documents page.

    See Also
  • Club Races

  • Governing Documents
  • Cumberland Sprint Meet Results

    The Cumberland Sprint Meet was held in excellent weather conditions at the Hawkesbury Oasis Leisure Centre this afternoon.

    Merrylands' team of 4 swimmers took home 7 medals from the 12 events contested with a number of personal best times swum.

    Anthony Ventra won the Gold Medal in the 13yrs 50m Freestyle equaling his PB and also won the Gold in the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke.

    Mitchell Burt took home 2 medals in the 13yrs events, winning Bronze in the 50m Freestyle and Silver and the 50m Backstroke, equaling Anthony's first place time. He also swam 3 new P.B.s in the Freestyle, Breaststroke and Butterfly.

    Peter Johnston won 2 medals in the 15yrs & Over events, taking home the Bronze medal in the 50m Freestyle and the Silver in the 50m Breaststroke in a new personal best time.

    Also swimming in the 15yrs & Over events, Rachel Johnston narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing 4th in the 50m Freestyle, in a time equal to the 3rd place swimmer and also finished 4th in the 50m Backstroke.

    Congratulations to all our swimmers on their results. Club results are now available, the full results will be posted once they are available.

    Medal Tally

    Gold 3
    Silver 2
    Bronze 2

    See Also
  • Cumberland Sprint Meet - Results
  • 12th FINA World Championships

    More than 1 billion people around the world are expected to tune in to the 12th FINA World Championships, which began in Melbourne on Sunday.

    Channel Nine's Wide World of Sports' is treating fans to 17 hours of live coverage during prime time as well as 10 hours of highlights.

    The swimming events will be held in the Rod Laver Arena in the deepest temporary pool ever constructed. Every swimming final will be broadcast live from March 25th with Ray Warren joined in the commentary team by sports veteran Ken Sutcliffe and former swimming greats including Nicole Livingstone, Giaan Rooney and Duncan Armstrong.

    But it's not just swimming events on show - diving, water polo, open-water swimming and synchronised swimming are also on offer with highlights packages on Nine and Fox Sports from March 19-24.

    For full details of the events and television coverage see the schedule here.

    For even more coverage, BigPond is showing live video coverage, results and highlights of all five disciplines through their BigPond Sport website and Omega has live timing and official results on their Omega Live Timing website.

    See Also
  • Finals Program & Television Coverage

  • BigPond Sport - Swimming

  • Wide World of Sports

  • Omega Live Timing

  • 12th FINA World Swimming Championships Website

  • FINA Website